Erised Revealed
by Ayanna88
Summary: Hermione is just not having a good day! In Divination, she is asked to look into the Mirror of Erised and tell what she sees, but she sees something that she doesn't expect. Then something strange happens when she runs into the person in the mirror. Hope you like it! Minor Yaoi in a later Chapter.
1. The Mirror

Surprises in the mirror

Author's Note: This is my new story. I hope you all enjoy reading it! This was an idea that my mind just wouldn't give up, so I just decided to write it and hopefully clear my brain out a little bit!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the plot.

As Hermione walked down the hallway to Divinations class, she thought about what she wanted in life. I know it isn't the most original of topics to think about but as per usual for her, she wanted to get a jump start and know exactly what she wanted for the future. She really hadn't thought about it much other than she knew that she wanted to graduate from Hogwarts and get a job at the Ministry of Magic and start a Magical Creatures Rights Act. But beyond that she had no clue. She walked past a portrait that was trying to get her attention without as much as a glance in its direction. The hall was wide with grey brick walls. There were portraits all along the walls and every one of them were moving and speaking, which in a muggle dwelling would be very strange but here at Hogwarts it was normal.

She finally arrived at the Divination's tower and walked through the door into class with Harry and Ron, both of whom had been trying to figure out more tragedies that would happen to them for their next assignment in divination. The room was stuffy as usual and the windows were covered so that the light wouldn't interrupt the "flow of the inner eye" as the teacher always told them. The room was a half circle in shape and the tables that were meant for the students were on a stage like platform and there were three tiers of tables.

"Boys, you know I hate this class, but that is not how you finish your homework." Hermione scolded, sitting down at the closest table to the door in the chair closest the door.

"Why are you still taking this class if you hate it so much?" Harry asked, sitting down at the same table next to her and behind the table. Ron sat across the table from Hermione and listened.

"One, you guys are in it and I want to make sure that you aren't getting into any trouble. And two, this is an easy class. I know that is not something that you hear from me often but this is the one class that I can take and not actually have to participate in much." She replied.

Harry and Ron couldn't comment on this because Professor Trelawney walked in and started her lesson. Since she knew it would be a boring class like always, Hermione spaced out and continued to think about her future while the teacher spoke. At least she did so for about a minute until the teacher walked to the corner of the class room and pulled what Hermione assumed had been a window drape off of a mirror. As soon as the mirror was revealed, Harry leaned over toward Hermione.

"That's the Mirror of Erised. You know the one I found in First year. I wonder why she has it here." He leaned back as the teacher began to speak again.

"This mirror is called the Mirror of Erised and it shows your deepest desires. Sometimes it will show you something that you never even realized that you wanted until now. Each of you will come up here and look into the mirror and tell me what you see. If you don't want to tell me just say so and you may write a paper on what you saw that will be due in one month. You will have to explain why you believe you saw what you did and what you think you can do about fulfilling this deepest desire." Trelawney explained, walking up to the tables. She walked over to Lavender and Parvati's table, which was the furthest from Hermione's table, to indicate that they would go first.

By the time it was Harry, Ron, and Hermione's turn only 2 people had chosen to do the paper instead of telling the class what they had seen, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnagan. Harry went first. He walked up to the mirror and at first he stared at it, then after a moment, he smiled at what he saw. "I see my parents standing behind me. Mum has her hand on my shoulder and they are both smiling at me. Also, my grandparents are behind my parents." He glanced at the teacher and she nodded at him to go back to his seat. It was Ron's turn next. As he walked up to the mirror he glanced at Harry quickly and when he got to the mirror he looked at his reflection and his deepest desire. He watched the mirror intensely and his hand started to shake. After a minute, he spoke in a shaky voice that sounded short of breath. "I will write the paper". Hermione looked at Harry and they both looked shocked. When Ron sat down, they both looked at him expectantly. When he refused to look at her, Hermione stood to walk to the mirror.

When she stood directly in front of the mirror, she nearly fainted at what she saw. Standing behind her, with his arms wrapped around her waist, was Severus Snape. As she watched, he smiled at her and leaned down to kiss her neck softly while her mirror image smiled and closed her eyes. She jerked backwards away from the mirror and it took her a moment before she could speak. "I want to write the paper."

Divination was Hermione's last class of the day, so when it was finally over she told the boys that she was going to go to the common room to begin her homework. The boys still had to go to Transfiguration, so they waved at her as they headed to class. She started walking to the common room down a hall that looked like all the other halls in the castle with talking pictures and suits of armor lining the walls and thought. What did she think about? Snape, of course. Why had she seen him in the mirror? Ok, she knew that the mirror showed her deepest desire, but did she really want Professor Snape as… more than a teacher? As a friend? Dare she think it? As a… Lover? She started to run to get to the common room faster. She was panicking now. She turned a corner and…

BAM!

She ran into something hard and knocked it and herself to the floor with her on top. When she got her breath back she realized that the thing under her was a person. A male person. She looked up and gasped as she saw that she had just knocked over the person that she had just been thinking about. His eyes were closed. She figured that he had hit his head on the floor and had been knocked unconscious. "Oh No! What have I done?" She tried to get up but when she tried to use her left hand to push herself up, she cried out in pain and brought her hand to her chest. "Did I break my hand? How could I possibly have broken my hand? It wasn't that far down. But then how could I have knocked Sever… Professor Snape unconscious also?" She sat there trying to think about how either of those things could happen, when finally she came to her senses and shook her head. "No time to think about how. I have to get Sev… Snape… and myself to the Hospital Wing." She stood up using her right hand as leverage. She took out her wand and levitated him and started walking toward the Hospital wing.

It didn't take very long to get there and she walked in and levitated him over to an empty bed and set him down. She looked around for Madam Pomfrey and saw the door to her office. The hospital wing was pretty basic. It contained several beds and separation drapes. The windows were large so that lots of sun could flood in. On the walls there were only a few pictures all of them were of nurses. There were a few doors along the walls also. 5 doors in all, including the nurse's quarters and her office. She walked up to the door that she knew to be the nurses' office and knocked.

Madam Pomfrey answered immediately and stepped out to find out who needed what. When she saw Hermione, she seemed surprised, but smiled anyway.

"What do you need, dear?" She asked.

"I knocked Professor Snape over and I think his head hit the floor and it knocked him out. I also think that I broke my hand on the way down." Hermione explained pointing at Snape on the bed behind her and then lifting her left arm to show the nurse.

"Ok, dear. Go sit on the bed next to the professors while I check to make sure nothing else is wrong with him, ok?" Madam Pomfrey ushered her over to the bed and then when over to Professor Snape's bed. When Hermione got to the bed, she sat down and watched the nurse work. As she checked Snape for other injuries and such, Madam Pomfrey's expression changed from concentration to confusion and then to fear quickly.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked, standing back up and walking over to the nurse.

"Yes, dear, there is. Did you see a potion vial nearby? When you both fell? Or something that could have held a potion?" The nurse asked seriously.

Hermione thought through her memory. "No, not that I can remember. Why? What's wrong?"

"This is no ordinary sleep or unconsciousness. This was potion induced. He seems fine except the being unconscious part. Let me fix your wrist and I will go try to find something to wake him up with." Madame Pomphry replied, walking over to Hermione. Waving her wand over her wrist, the bone mended itself quickly. The nurse then hurried to her office.

Hermione slid off of the bed and walked slowly over to Snapes bed and looked down at him. As she watched him, he seemed to change. The grey in his hair turned as black as the rest of it. The wrinkles on his face smoothed out and disappeared. Hermione looked around for the nurse for answers. She couldn't see her so she looked back at Snape and took the chance to actually look at him. But before she could register what she was seeing, he vanished. She shook her head and realized that she had been asleep and class had ended. 'It was a dream. I didn't really knock into Snape or break my wrist.'

Leaving class, she told Harry and Ron that she needed to go to the library to work on her paper. Hurrying along, she wondered why she had that dream and what it meant. She was so into her thoughts, she didn't see the obstacle in her way and she ran right into the object of her dream. They both fell just like they did in her dream except for not as hard. Hermione lay there having had the wind knocked out of her. 'What am I going to do or say? I am laying on top of the man who I just found out I want the most in my life. Why am I thinking about this? I should be moving off of him.' Before she could think about anything else, she felt him move. He just shifted slightly to one side. But that little shift pressed something against her that she hadn't expected and she sat up quickly. She knew her face was in a shocked expression as she stared into his black eyes, but she didn't care. A minute or two later she realized that sitting up had not been a very good idea, because now she was straddling her potions professor. She scrambled to move off of him and stand against the wall to wait for him to take house points for her running in the hall or something of the sort. After a moment, she realized that he hadn't said a thing since she had run into him. Glancing at him again, she found that he was still lying on the floor, but there was something happening to him.

Her dream seemed to be coming true. Well, mostly. Severus' hair was returning to the jet black that it probably was in his youth. His face was smoothing out and he was shrinking in height. His eyes were kind of glazed, as if he was in a trance. Finally his eyes focused again and he looked around. Seeing her, he stood up.

"Miss. Granger! What is the meaning of you running in the hall?" He would have kept going if he didn't register 2 things. She was staring at him in astonishment and the fact that his voice wasn't as deep as it had been not long ago. Looking down at himself, he realized that his robes didn't fit as well as they had only seconds before. "What did you do to me?" He demanded, looking back up at her.

"I didn't do anything! I swear. Come on; let's go to the Hospital Wing. Maybe Madam Pomfrey can tell us what happened." Hermione said, quickly so as to not let him speak anymore than necessary. She waited a moment. He looked at her and after a small amount of time, he nodded and started walking in the direction of the Hospital Wing. Sighing in relief, she followed. If she was honest, she was just bit curious as to what HAD happened.


	2. OOPS!

Chapter 2

They walked in silence up to the hospital wing. Hermione didn't want to remind him that she ran into him, and that is why she wasn't talking, but she was curious as to why he was silent.

'ok, I know he is probably still in shock because of what happened to him, but I figured since he was a spy all that time he would be able to process things a lot faster and hide his surprise.' She thought, then glanced over at Snape. Snape hadn't been thinking. He had been staring at her! Well, maybe he had been thinking _something _but not what she was thinking he was.

"Why were you running?" He asked.

"I wasn't running. I was hurrying to the Library to work on my divinations homework. I just wanted to get it over with. I hate that class." She stopped talking abruptly.

'Why am I telling him this? He doesn't need to know what classes I hate and which ones I like. He is my hated potions professor.' She thought.

'Then what was that in the mirror?' Another voice in her head asked.

'Oh, No! Go away! I don't need you now. Plus that mirror was wrong. I do NOT want Professor Snape as anything more than a potions professor.' She insisted.

'Sure. If that is what you believe, then maybe you are a stupid child still. Even though you just turned 16 yesterday. I thought that when you turned 16, it means you have grown up, but I guess I was wrong.' The voice persisted sarcastically.

'No, I am very responsible! Anyway, this has nothing to do with you, so go away.' Hermione said.

'Ok. I am going away. But you should still think on what I said and on what has happened.' The voice said and was quiet again.

Shaking her head, she realized that they had finally reached the hospital wing. Walking through the door, Hermione went to the nurses' office and knocked. Severus had decided to sit on one of the beds and scowl at Hermione. Finally the nurse came out of her office.

"What's the problem, dear?" Madam Pomfrey asked looking at Hermione. She glanced at Severus and looked back at Hermione, before her head swiveled back to look closer at Severus.

"Who is this? He looks familiar." She said and walked over to stand by the bed he was occupying. She stared at him for a few more seconds before she gasped and took a step back. "Severus?" Severus nodded with a grimace.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"I don't know, Poppy. I was walking down the hall, when Miss. Granger came barreling down the hall and knocked me over. I guess I was knocked out for a few seconds, when I came to, I was on the floor. I stood up and I noticed Miss. Granger looking at me weird and when I glanced down, I was like this." Severus said and then looked at Hermione. "Miss. Granger, would you please tell up what you saw. Or if you know how this happened, tell us."

Hermione was startled for a second. He had just said please. Then, she realized that he probably thought she had something to do with what happened to him. She raised her hands in the 'I Surrender' pose. "I didn't do anything. I just came from divinations and I was hurrying to get to the library because I wanted to finish my homework as soon as possible. I didn't realize Professor Snape was in the hall because I was so deep in thought I just wasn't paying attention. I knocked into him, he went down, and landed on top of him, I immediately got back up. I noticed that his eyes were kind of glazed. Not really focused on anything. Then, his features started to change. Hair turned jet black, wrinkles went away, and... " She was interrupted by Pomfrey, who had started casting spells on Snape to find out why this happened and how.

"Did you see anything that could have caused this? Maybe..."

Hermione interrupted her. "Nothing was there except us and my bag. No potion bottles, nothing out of the ordinary." the Nurse stopped working for a moment to glance at Hermione.

"How did you know I was going to say potion bottles?"

Hermione froze for a moment. 'I can't tell you I dreamed about this happening. What am I going to tell her. If I don't answer, she is going to think I really did do this.'

"Well, the only thing that I could think that would do this kind of things would be a potion. Even though no one has invented a youth potion. If I had invented one I would not be keeping it a secret."

Madame Pomfrey seemed to accept this answer and turned back to continue with her examination. Hermione released the breath she was holding. Glancing up, she realized Snape had seen her relief. She glance away quickly.

She stayed quiet for the rest of the time Pomfrey was examining Snape.

After that was done, Pomfrey was stumped. "I can't find any reason for this to happen. There are no Potions in effect, no spells, nothing that I can detect. You two need to go up to Albus and see if he has any idea why this happened." She said, and waved them out the door.

As the two walked towards Dumbledore's office, neither spoke for they were both deep in thought about what could be happening and what the reason for it was. Severus was also thinking about Hermione's suspicious behavior in the Hospital Wing.

Eventually, they made it to the gargoyle that protected the Headmasters office and rooms.

"Blood Pops" Snape said. When the statue stepped aside, they both stepped on the rising stairs and waited for them to reach the top. Snape knocked on the door. After about a minute, they heard the Headmaster call for them to enter.

Opening the door, they spotted Dumbledore sitting at his desk with his hands steepled. His eyes twinkled as he motioned them into the seats in front of his desk. His gaze was on Hermione.

"Miss. Granger. What can I do for you today?" He glanced at Snape and cocked his head to the side in thought. "Do I know you? You look so familiar. My old age is getting to me I'm afraid."

Snape looked at Dumbledore in wonder for a moment. "You don't recognize me? I have only been teaching here for 17 years now." He said looking at the Headmaster oddly.

The Headmaster assessed Snape again and recognition finally flared in his eyes. "Severus?" Snape nodded. "What happened? How did you..."

Hermione interrupted. "We don't know how it happened. We have already been to the Hospital Wing, but Madame Pomfrey didn't find any spells or potions working on him. She thought that maybe you would have an idea about what has happened."

Dumbledore nodded. "Tell me what happened before this occurred."

Hermione retold the story, with Snape inputting things that he thought were important. After they were done, Dumbledore looked at them intently for a moment before asking. "Miss. Granger, You just turned 16, didn't you?"

Hermione looked confused and said. "Yes, Yesterday. But what does that have to do with anything?" Dumbledore nodded.

"Just as I thought. Well, I have an idea about what happened. You might have read about this before but haven't even thought about it. Or even thought that it could be true for you two." He said looking at Hermione. "If I remember right, Professor Trelawney was having her students look into the Mirror of Erised today. Tell me. What did you see?"

Hermione swallowed. Hanging her head, which hide her blushing face from view, she said. "Yes, sir. She was having us look in the mirror. I.. I really don't want to tell you.. who I saw, sir."

"I know you don't, but this is very relevant to the situation. Don't worry, dear. No one her is going to judge you."

Hermione slowly raised her head and nodded. Taking a deep breath and carefully avoiding Snapes gaze, which she could feel on her face, she answered his question.

"I saw Professor Snape, Sir."

A/N: I am so happy to be able to get this chapter up. I have been soooo busy with school and life. My cousin just had a baby and my family and I have all been pitching in and helping her take care of the new baby and the 3 year old, while she works.

I hope you all like this chapter.

PLEASE REVIEW!

Here are the questions I am going to leave you with.

How is Severus Snape going to react to this new information?

What made Snape change?

What will Dumbledore do about all of this?


	3. New Things

Chapter 3

Severus gasped softly. Did she really just say that she saw him in the Mirror of Erised?

Severus had been watching her and waiting for her response to Albus' question, but he never expected this. He continued to look at Hermione's face and noticed the redness getting brighter. He glanced away toward Albus and noticed that he was watching for his response to what she said. Blushing, he looked down and away from the Headmaster.

"You saw Severus in the Mirror? Doing what?" Albus pressed.

Hermione looked like she was going to pass out. "I... I.. Sir, I don't think that..." Albus gave her a look that said she had to answer the question. She swallowed noticeably. "He was... K.. Kissing my neck. His hands.. were around my w.. waist. Please, sir. No more." She pleaded, and Dumbledore nodded and let her go silent.

"That is all I needed to know. That has confirmed what I was thinking had happened." He looked at Severus and said, "I need you to do something for me. I wish to test my theory out once more before I tell you what I suspect." Severus nodded. "Take her hand."

Severus looked up and raised his eyebrows in question. Albus just shook his head and gestured towards Hermione's hand, both of which were laying on her lap knotted together. "Hermione, please offer your hand to Severus. I know this is embarrassing for you, but bear with me and it will all be explained, I promise." Hermione nodded slowly and, just as slowly, raised her right hand toward Severus, palm facing down. Severus slowly reached out with his right hand and grasped her hand firmly in his.

Hermione and Severus both gasped the moment their hands touched. The sensation that ran through them was like nothing they had ever experienced before. Hermione was so surprised by this, she looked up and straight into Severus' eyes. She saw so many things happen in the time she watched those opaque eyes. So many emotions passed through them. Surprise, Joy, Confusion, sadness, L.. no, that couldn't be right. Had that really been Love she just saw? Love for.. who? Her? No. That would never happen. A noise made her look away from Sev.. No, Snape. Dumbledore was looking at them in astonishment. She quickly let go of Snape's hand.

"Sir, What is it?"

Dumbledore was silent for a moment. Then he said, "There was a golden aura around you that was very visible. Auras aren't supposed to be visible, ever." Dumbledore looked away from them, with a thoughtful look on his face. When he looked back at them, he had a slight grin on his face. "Now, onto what I thought had happened. Miss. Granger, Severus, you two are soul mates. Two people meant to fall in love and get married."

Severus looked at Dumbledore for a few minutes in silence, then he glanced at Hermione to see her reaction. She looked like she wanted to pass out in surprise.

"It seems that you two are a special kind of Soul Mates, though. I will have to do some research, but I believe that you two have to be in contact with each other every hour for the first year. So, it looks like I am going to have to set up a room for you two and.." Hermione and Severus interrupted him at the same time.

"But what about my classes? I can't just disappear." Severus said.

"But, sir. What about my classes? I really don't want to fail after all this work." Hermione said.

"Miss. Granger, Severus, don't worry about anything. Miss. Granger, you may still go to your classes. We will just have to have Severus here go with you. Maybe he can pose as a student." The last part was said mostly to himself.

"What? A student? I have already finished my schooling. I don't want to have to study all of the same stuff again. And the teachers will definitely recognize me, from the first time I was this age." Severus complained. Then he seemed to realize something. "Wait. Did you say that I have to spend all my time with HER? No! Absolutely not! Plus, when I looked in the Mirror the last time, I didn't see her."

When he finished his tirade, Hermione was looking at him with a hurt expression in her eyes. After a second, that look changed to defiance.

"And you think I want to spent my time with you of all people. The Greasy Git of the Dungeons. You think so much of yourself that you think everyone wants to be in your presence at all times. NOT!" Hermione yelled the last word at him and looked away from him, toward Dumbledore.

Dumbledore slowly looked from one of them to the other and back. He did this a few times before he spoke again.

"You both need to get to know each other, so I am going to move both of you to a new room. I don't want any complaints or problems. You are both going to be treated like adults and I expect you to act like it." Dumbledore stood up and walked over to a book case located to the left of his desk. Pulling out a large red book, he waved his wand over the cover and the book opened to the page he was apparently looking for. "Ah ha. Just what we need." Closing the book, he put it back where he got it, and stepped away from the book case, towards the two in front of his desk. "Follow me to your new rooms."

The new soul mates rose from their chairs at the same time and moved to follow the Headmaster. Severus allowed Hermione to go on ahead of him and he ended the line. After they were off of the moving stairs, Dumbledore began to speak again.

"I know that this is going to be difficult for you two. You have never really gotten along with each other, but I want you two to put the past behind you, where it should be in the first place, and try to get to know each other better. You two have a lot more in common than you think. Now, these new rooms have a kitchen and dinning room as well as the living room, bedroom, and bathroom. You are both allowed to eat in your quarters as often as you wish. For the next few days you will both be excused from class in order to get acquainted and more use to your new situation, I suggest you stay in your quarters for those few days. During the few days that you are not present, I will be explaining to the school what has happened and that you two are to be left alone about this. Miss. Granger, You may of course inform your friends about what has happened, but it must be done in your new quarters with Severus present. I will inform whom ever you wish to tell where to go to see you. Who do you wish for me to inform?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "Ginny, Harry, Ron, Luna, and Neville." She replied. Luna, Neville, Ginny, and she had all gotten to know each other during the last summer. They were all really close now. Ginny and Neville had become a couple at the end of the summer and they really seemed to be getting even closer lately. Dumbledore turned then spoke to Snape. "Anyone that you wish to speak to about this at the same time?"

Severus nodded, "Yes. My godson, Draco." Hermione looked over at him curiously for a moment. Draco was his godson? That.. actually explained things. A lot of things, actually.

Dumbledore nodded and was silent for the rest of the walk to their new rooms which seemed to be on the 3rd floor. They finally stopped in front of a tapestry of a Unicorn with an Forest Elf standing next to it petting it gently.

"The password is True Love. I would prefer it if you didn't change it. These rooms were once used for married students back when arranged marriages were done at early ages. This password has been used for ages and serves as a hopeful reminder." Dumbledore explained and the portrait swing open. They all walked through the door and it closed behind them.

(A/N: Normally I would stop here but I decided not to because of all of the wonderful reviews. :P )

Hermione gasped as she saw the room they had just walked into. The walls were a sky blue color with portraits of nature all around the room. In front of the stone fire place, that was situated on the right side of the large room, there sat a pure white loveseat and 2 white recliners with sky blue trim. Along the wall left of the fire place and directly in front of the group were 2 white doors. Hermione assumed they were for the bedrooms. A little more to the left were 2 desks, one was red and the other was green. Right next to the desks on the left was a book shelf filled with books. Hermione smiled. 'I can't wait to see what those books are about.' Next to the book shelf was a door way with no door attached and she could see a part of a medium sized kitchen with blue marble counters and white cabinets and drawers.

"Alright, you two. I must go but I hope you get settled quickly and get along. I will send your friends to you as soon as I am able to tell them all. I will tell them to come here at 7 tonight. I won't tell them what it is about, so that will be up to you two. See you in a few days." And Dumbledore walked out of their new rooms, leaving them to stare after him for a few moments in wonderment.

There eyes met for a split second before they both realized that, Hermione had just described what she saw in the mirror and they both looked away, blushing.

'Why am I blushing? I have NEVER blushed in my life and what she said really shouldn't effect me. Well, okay, maybe it should effect me a little, because she did basically admit to liking me. Her heart says that it wants me.' Severus thought with a smirk.

'I can't believe that I had to tell them what I saw I the mirror. This is so embarrassing. I really think Dumbledore has gone off the deep end on this one. For all we know, someone could have been around the corner and made this happen to Se.. Snape to freak us out.' Hermione thought frantically, knowing that this was not what had happened.

Severus was the first to walk further into their new... apartment... or whatever it was. He walked over to the book case and gazed at the books in curiosity. Hermione smiled. 'It's good to know that we have something in common. Even if it is only one thing.' She walked over to look at the books as well. She spotted several books that she had never seen before and that sounded very interesting.

"Aren't you going to rant and rave about having to spend all your time with me?" Severus said suddenly, making her jump. Turning towards him, she answered his question, "Not at the moment. I could ask you the same question. But I won't, because I'm not nosy in that way." Hermione turned toward the door furthest from the fire place and grasped the door knob. Opening the door, she thought, 'Hermione- one, Snape -Zero. I can't believe I said that to Snape. I hope he doesn't try to kill me in my sleep.' She glanced back at him, before stepping through the door. Looking around at the room, she nodded and closed it again. Then moved to the other door and opened it. Gasping, she stared at the contents of the room.

A/N: Please don't hurt me for the cliffy. I had to end somewhere and this seemed like the right place to do so.

I have to thank the following people, for their reviews. They both had ideas about this story and I really enjoyed them.

**Flowerypetal**

**TequilaNervous**

Thank you All for reading my story and favoriting it or story alerting it.

I am leaving you with these questions.

What is in the room?

Will Snape answer her barb or will he let her win this one?

How are the others going to react to this news?


	4. Problems? Arguments?

Chapter 4

Hermione stared in horror at the room that she had just opened the door to. It was a bathroom. She wasn't staring at it because it was horrible, no. In fact, it was a very nice bathroom with a light green tile floor and white walls. The shower, which was located directly to her left as she stood in the doorway, had two heads and had a seat installed into it. There were two sinks directly in front of her and to the right of the toilet. On the left of the toilet was a door. No, it wasn't bad. She was staring at it because after she had opened the other door and seen that it was a bedroom, she had assumed that this one would be the other bedroom.

'Wait, Why is there only one bedroom? I am not sleeping in the same room with Snape. I need to tell Dumbledore that he has made a mistake. He couldn't possibly have meant for us to sleep together.' She thought frantically. Just then she felt Snape walk up to her and peer into the room.

"What is going on? You look like you've seen a ghost. Has Peeves done something already?" He asked quite seriously, then seeing what was in the room, he said, "Oh, Just great!" And he walked over to the fireplace and sat on the couch he had just conjured to relax. He figured they would need it for the guests.

Hermione turned to look at him and asked, "What do you mean, great? Do you know what this mean? We will have to sleep in the same... bed." Hermione swallowed thickly when Snape looked at her.

"Yes, I know what that means. I had an idea that Dumbledore was going to do things this way. I had hoped not but it seems that we will have to deal with it. I believe it is only a few minutes until dinner. Do you want to make something to eat or would you prefer it if I did? After I change, of course." He said, getting off the couch. He headed towards the bedroom door and stopped when he grasped the door handle. He turned and looked at her apparently waiting for a reply.

Hermione stared at him for a second before answering, "I will make something for us to eat. Anything specific you want? Anything you are allergic to?"

He shook his head before entering the room and closing the door. Hermione headed to the kitchen and, looking through the food they had, made turkey sandwiches. Simple but filling. She also made iced tea. She went back into the living room with the sandwiches and beverage and set the tray and pitcher on the coffee table. She took a seat on one of the comfortable chairs and, grabbing a sandwich and her cup, leaned back in it to think about all that had happened in the last few hours.

'Why is my life so chaotic? I knew magic would make for an interesting life but I didn't realize that this would happen. Not that this isn't normal for us, but still. What am I going to do? How am I going to tell my friends that I am now required to live with our potions professor? Just thinking that makes me kind of nervous. That man has always made me nervous. Especially in his class when we are all supposed to be brewing our potions. Some of us actually know what we are doing, but he always treats us all the same. As Idiots. Even though I always brew the potion correctly. He has to show us how to do it correctly. We could never get it right. Yeah, right. Although, when he deems it necessary for us 'Dunderheads' to understand, he will demonstrate the potion. Then I always go and daydream while he picks out the necessary ingredients. I don't need to watch his big hands grabbing the ingredients and putting them in the cauldron... mmmm... His hands... such nimble fingers on such hands.. I wonder what else they are capable of doing...' Hermione suddenly shook her head, trying to get rid of that random thought.

"What are you thinking about that has you so engrossed?" came a voice from her left. She jumped and then immediately blushed. Snape had somehow walked from the bedroom, sat on the other recliner and had grabbed a sandwich and his cup of tea, before speaking and catching her attention. He had always been able to do that, and even now could sneak up on someone. After a moment, she looked at him and started to speak, but closed her mouth when she caught a glimpse of his new outfit. He was wearing blue jeans and a bright red t-shirt. The shock factor wasn't just the fact that he was wearing two actual colors, but also because of two other things. One, the clothes were clearly muggle made. And two, the shirt was Gryffindor red and had gold bands around the ends of the short sleeves. She stared, not really knowing what to make of it. The corners of his mouth twitched as if he was fighting a smile.

"Does my appearance surprise you? You know, you shouldn't stare. It's not polite." He said, and took a bite of his sandwich.

"Well, Yeah! I mean, I don't think anyone has ever seen you wear anything except black. And you are well known for HATING Gryffindor, but here you are wearing Gryffindor colors. My reaction to your clothes is a given. Of Course I am going to stare." She said, after finishing her sandwich. "Now, What are we going to tell the others when they get here after dinner?"

Snape shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. The truth would be a good choice, even though I know you don't use it a lot." He watched as she looked at him with a bit of fury on her face and said, "Well, of course we tell them the truth! And by the way I don't lie. I always tell the truth. But I meant specifics. Is there anything that we shouldn't tell them?"

Snape shook his head, "No, I say we tell them all of it. That way they all understand what's going on with their friend. And you don't always tell the truth. I know you stole ingredients from my personal supplies back in your 2nd year, but when you were asked about it you said you had no idea who had done it."

"Yeah, well, I could have gotten into trouble for it then. Now I can't. Oh, and for Draco, his godfather. That's another thing. I never saw that one coming." She added, nodding.

"Yes, he's my Godson. I'm surprised that no one has figured that out yet. I know I showed favoritism to him a lot. That just goes to show that I was right and your classmates are Dunderhead." he replied, finishing off his sandwich and drink. Hermione didn't reply to that barb, but sat in her seat thinking.

After a few minutes, she looked up at Snape and said, "It is almost time for them to get here, so I am going to go change real quick." Standing up, she walked to the bedroom door and, opening it, stepped over the threshold and closed the door firmly. Leaning on the door, she sighed and shook her head.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

Author's Note: Bad place to end, but I didn't want the explanation to the friends (and Godson) to be in this chapter. I know this chapter is also short, but I was stuck with writers block on this part. AHHHHH! I hate writers block!

I am already half done with chapter 5 so it shouldn't be long for that one. I Hope.

Please Review!

Questions I leave you with.

What does the room look like?

How will the others react to this news?

Will Draco get along with Hermione's friends?

Will Draco recognize Severus?


	5. The Visit

A/N: I really appreciate all the support I received on the time I took to grieve for my family and friends. I already had this chapter mostly done, but I lost my flash drive and have to re-write it, so here goes.

Chapter 5

Standing up from the door, she walked over to her trunk that had been placed at the foot of the bed on the floor. Opening the lid she reached in and grabbed a gray short sleeved shirt with a twist at the bust and a long, black folded skirt (I have links to the outfit in my profile, because I suck at clothing descriptions.) Closing the lid, she moved to undress and put on the new clothes. As she did this, she thought about the new situation.

'I hope everyone takes this news okay. I mean, I am positive that Harry and Ron will have a bad reaction, but as soon as it is explained a little better, they will be okay with it. Well, maybe not okay, but they will be able to deal with it. Luna will be her normal self so I have no Idea what she will do or how she will react. Ginny and Neville… I really don't know about them either. I hope I don't lose any friends today, just because of something that we couldn't help.'

As soon as she had finished dressing, she heard a knock come from the front portrait. 'Here goes nothing.' She thought as she headed for the door. When she opened the bedroom door, she saw that Snape had already answered the door and opened It to allow the group to enter. Harry and Ron were the first two to enter. They immediately saw her and walked over to meet her in the middle of the room.

"Hey, Hermione. What's going on? Why did Dumbledore tell us to meet you here? And who is that guy who opened the door?" Harry said quickly, not giving her a chance to answer.

"Yeah, Who is that guy, Hermione? He's very cute, where did you meet him? And why is he here?" Ginny said, having entered the room with Neville right after Harry and Ron.

"Hello, All!" Luna said, standing next to Draco, whom she had entered with.

"Okay, everyone. Hello. Everything will be answered as soon as we all get comfortable." Hermione said and then stopped, just realizing something that Ginny said. "Ginny, did you just call him." She pointed at Snape. "Cute?" When Ginny nodded, Hermione laughed. "That's what I thought you said. Let's all sit down." Hermione started walking over to one of the reclining chairs, shaking her head and Ginny's comment, when she realized that Snape must have transfigured a second couch to accommodate the extra people. Before she sat on the chair, she turned to look at Snape and nodded a thank you, adding a slight smile when he smirked at her in response. Hermione sat and watched as Harry and Ron sat on the new couch with Luna, Draco sat on the arm of the couch next to Luna, and Ginny and Neville sat in the Loveseat.

Hermione opened her mouth to start answering some questions, when Draco suddenly spoke.

"Why am I here? I understand why the others are here, but why am I?"

"Because Draco, I asked for you to be here. Everything will be explained." Snape answered sitting in the other recliner gracefully.

Hermione started the story of what happened in Divinations, including her dream, leaving out what she had seen in the mirror of Erised and the identity of the person she had knocked into. She continued on to tell of the accident and consequences of the fall. Snape added anything that he deemed necessary as she told the story. When her friends were told that the person she had knocked over had been a teacher, most of them had surprised looks on their faces. Luna was the only one who didn't, which didn't really surprise Hermione. She continued by telling them about Madam Pomphry's verdict and their walk up to Dumbledore's office.

" When we got to his office, he looked like he had been waiting for us, but he was surprised to see my companion. After we explained what happened, he asked us to do an experiment for him to validate what he thought had happened." At this point, Hermione looked at Snape to see if he thought her idea was a good idea. Apparently he had the same idea, because he was reaching over to her with his right hand. She lifted her left hand and placed it in his, knowing now what to expect. As planned, Hermione felt the same sensations as in Dumbledore's office, and she again looked into obsidian eyes filled with emotion. Hearing her friends and Draco gasp, they quickly let go of each other. Hermione looked back at her friends and continued.

"That was the result last time, too. At that point he told us that since I had just turned 16 yesterday, the answer to this riddle is that, we are Soul Mates, meant to fall in love and get married, but that he wasn't sure what kind of Soul Mates, as he said that aura's are never supposed to be visable. He is going to find out more, but in the meantime, we have to be near each other every hour for the first year and that is why we have this apartment." Hermione rounded down, getting ready to drop the bomb shell of the entire thing. "And now Severus will be going with me to classes and he won't be teaching." She finished, and waited for the explostions.

The room was very silent for several minutes, before Harry and Ron said in unison, "WHAT?" Draco started laughing, while Luna nodded a few times and then smiled. Ginny's mouth had dropped open, when she realized, who she had thought was cute, and Neville just sat there, with eyes open wide and his jaw on the floor.

"Draco, why are you laughing?" Severus asked calmly. It took a moment for Draco to calm down enough in order answer.

"A few reasons actually. First, everyone's reaction to who you are. Seeing the Weaslette speechless and the boy wonder and side-kick astounded. Lastly, you two have HATED each other since you met, and now fate or destiny or whatever is saying that you guy are meant to fall in Love? Not going to happen. Fate might as well have me fall for Loony Lovegood here, with how much you two are going to work, which is never." Draco finished his explanation with a shrug.

"I don't hate him."

"I don't hate her"

Hermione and Severus looked at each other in astonishment when they realized that they had said this together. Hermione turned back to her friends, to ask her friends if they had any questions, when Ginny stood up and walked over to Hermione. Grabbing her hand, Ginny pulled Hermione up onto her feet and towards the closest door, which happened to be the bedroom. Hermione looked back at Severus and, seeing his questioning look, shrugged and indicated that they would be back in a moment. He nodded and turned back towards the others, just before the door closed between them.

A/N: That is Chapter 5. I am writing chapter 6 and will probably publish it the day after this one.

I really appreciate all of the support that you all have given me, in this time of grief. With all of the loss I have had in the last 2 months including one I wasn't aware of until much later, I didn't know if I could continue writing these stories, but you all helped me get back on track.

Thank you and here is what you have been waiting for.

I Hope you enjoyed it!

Please Review!

Questions I leave you with:

What will Ginny say to Hermione in private that she couldn't say with everyone else there listening?

How will the others treat Severus while he is alone with them?

Will they accept the possible bond between Hermione and Severus?


	6. Feelings

Chapter 6

A/N: I tried to get you this one out the next day, but things don't always go the way we want them to.

I don't know if you were sent an update for chapter 5 after I changed it from an author's note to an actual chapter, but if not I am telling you now…

(CHAPTER 5 IS NOW A CHAPTER NOT AN AUTHOR'S NOTE)

Thanks to Raven Lockwood for the support and the review, to VAMPIRESEX for the recent review that got me up and typing on this chapter, MrsFredWeasley101 with her private message of support and encouragement, Coolnetta for the compliment within a condolence message, and OfTheDark for her interest in my story.

Thank you for your patience.

Happy Reading!

As the door closed to the bedroom behind Ginny and Hermione, Ginny let go of her best girlfriend and turned to her before speaking.

"Oh My Merlin! You are going to have to sleep with that gorgeous man? Lucky girl! But are you really okay with all this?" Ginny asked to the astonishment of Hermione.

"Ginny! You still think he's cute, now that you know who he is?"

"Well, of course! Snape has always been hot, and now he is closer to my age AND hot! Too bad he's taken. But I am sure you will have some fun with all that newly nubile lushness." Ginny continued. "And you didn't answer my question. Are you okay with this?"

Hermione moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "I don't know. I mean, I have never hated him, but I have never... okay I can't say never, but only for a brief period of time, have I had a crush on him. The one thing that I wasn't going to tell anybody is that when I looked into the mirror, I saw him kissing me."

Ginny sat on the bed and put an arm around Hermione as if to comfort her. "I didn't know that you liked him that much."

"That's the thing though, I don't. I mean, yeah, he is very good looking and that voice and those hands are to die for, but…" Hermione started.

"No buts. That is all you have to think about. If fate has said that you two will be together, then I really don't see what you can do about it. Just make the most of it and enjoy the envy of all the girls in this school." Ginny interrupted and effectively ended the conversation.

As soon as the door closed to the bed room, Harry seemed to come out of his daze.

"Wow, this is not what I expected to happen today, or you know, ever!" Harry said, and stood up. He started to pace as he continued.

"What did Hermione ever do to deserve this? I mean, she has always been the smart one, and now she is rewarded for her hard work by being stuck with the greasy bat of the dungeons as her future husband and a life of misery and disregard. I mean, I know that Ron and I have always took her for granted and all that, but is this what she gets for dealing with the war and surviving it? She was the one who helped the most with ending it. I mean, I did too and Ron as well, but she figured out things that neither of us did and…" Harry would have continued to rant if Ron hadn't stood up from the couch, walked over to Harry, and pulled Harry into a hug.

"Don't worry, Harry. Everything will be okay. I know it doesn't see like it but it will." Ron said, patting Harry on the back in a calming way. After a few minutes, Harry pulled out of the hug.

"Thanks, Ron." Harry said and smiled at Ron. As if he just remembered the others in the room, he looked around and blushed slightly. Walking to the couch again, he moved the conversation back to the original subject of Hermione and Severus' new living situation.

"What did Dumbledore say about you teaching?" Harry asked.

"Well, I know Miss. Granger stated that I wouldn't be teaching, but Dumbledore didn't in fact mention me teaching or what would be done to keep Potions a class. We are just assuming that he doesn't want me to teach in the form that I am now in. I can only guess that he will get Slughorn to teach in my place for the time being." Severus answered. "Now are there any more stupid questions that you need answered or repeated?"

Harry reared back as if struck. "That wasn't a stupid question. We needed to know that. You…" He tried to argue, but was interrupted by Ron.

"He's right. It is never good to assume something, but to ask the questions you need to know positively." Ron said, surprising everyone.

"OOOOkkay. That was enlightening. I do have a question for you, albeit not a stupid one. A nosy one, sure." Draco said, looking from Ron to Severus.

"If it is too nosy a question, I might not answer it, but go ahead and ask it." Severus permitted with a careless wave of his hand.

"Do both of those doors lead to bed rooms or is one of them a bathroom?" Draco asked pointing to the door Hermione and Ginny went through and the door next to it.

"You are right. That is a nosy question and one I am not sure I should answer. At least not until Miss. Granger and Miss. Weasley comes back in." Severus answered, with a shake of his head.

Only a few seconds after he said this, the door to the bedroom opened to reveal the two girls grinning from ear to ear. They both walked back to their respective seats and sat down waiting for someone to say something. Severus turned to Hermione and spoke.

"Draco asked a question that was quite nosy and I am not sure you want anyone to know if there are two bedrooms in this apartment or only one. That decision is yours to make, as most of these are your friends." Severus said with a nod.

"Oh, well." Hermione's grin dimmed slightly. She took a moment to think on that one, but in the end she decided that telling them everything was probably for the best. Glancing as Severus, she asked him with her eyes if it was ok with him and he shrugged getting her message loud and clear.

"Only one of the doors lead to a bed room, while the other is the bathroom." Hermione said quickly, with a shrug.

The room was silent for a second as they all took the time to take in this bit of shocking news. Then Ginny and Luna began to giggle. Hermione looked at Ginny and grinned at her knowing full well what she was thinking. She didn't even want to know what Luna was thinking at the moment. That girl was so weird, but that was just the way she had always been and Hermione didn't judge her for it. Whatever she was thinking, it was crazy and not important at the moment. After a moment of the girls giggling, Hermione looked at Ron, Neville, and Harry to try and figure out what they were thinking. She really didn't care what Malfoy thought.

Harry and Ron both looked like they were about to pass out. They were both pale and their mouths were hanging open in shock. Neville was shaking his head in denial and the expression on his face was a mix of Horror and remorse.

'Neville is probably feeling sorry for me and trying not to thank Merlin that he wasn't the prisoner in this situation. I have no idea about Harry and Ron though.' Hermione thought.

Hermione glanced at Snape and wasn't really surprised at what she saw. He was lounging back in the chair and smirking, as if this was what he was expecting them to do. Well not the girls' reaction but the boys'. The one time she saw him glance towards the girls, his expression turned into one of puzzlement.

Her musings were interrupted by Malfoy speaking.

"That's what I figured. Too bad for you, Uncle Sev. That is going to be…" Malfoy wasn't able to continue because he was interrupted by Snape.

"I don't want to hear it!" He said, leaning forward quickly.

This seemed to be the Queue for Harry and Ron to respond.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE! THAT IS SO NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!" Harry shouted at no one in particular jumping to his feet. Hermione was confused.

"What's not going to happen? We have no choice, Harry! I could possibly die if I don't and so could he." She said and pointed toward Snape.

"You would choose to… With this…" Harry Stutters. "I didn't know that you were like that Hermione, I guess I don't know you as well as I thought that I did." He said, and walked out the portrait hole. Ron looked at Hermione in horror and followed Harry shaking his head in obvious disbelief.

Hermione was even more confused now. "What did he mean by that?" She looked around.

Snape had both eyebrows raised and seemed slightly surprised. Neville was still stunned by the earlier announcement. Ginny and Luna had stopped giggling as soon as Harry had started shouting. Now Ginny's face was a light shade of pink. Apparently she knew what he had meant by what he said.

"Ginny?" Hermione directed the previous question to her.

"Ummm… I think that he was… assuming that if there is… only one… bedroom… then Dumbledore is expecting you two to… Ummm… become very… familiar with each other very quickly." Ginny haltingly stated.

"WHAT? How would he come to that conclusion? We have always butted heads in the past. Why would that change just because we found out that we are Soul Mates of some kind? We need to get to know each other A LOT better before there is even a possibility of THAT happening." Hermione said, jumping up from her seat to pace.

Snape suddenly leaned forward, resting his head in his hands. "I think the rest of you need to go. NOW!" He snarled, when the remaining three didn't move right away. They all immediately got up and walked out the door closing it behind them.

"You need to calm down." Snape said to Hermione, with his head still in his hands.

"Why on earth would they even think that something like that could happen this soon? I mean, if it were someone else, sure. I could understand that, but with you it is soooooo different, and so unlikely to happen any time in the near future. What could he have been think…" She wasn't allowed to finish. Snape had stood up from his chair, strode over to where she was pacing, and grabbed her. Before she could say anything else, she felt his lips on hers. This shocked her in more ways than one. Snape was kissing her. She never would have figured him for someone who could kiss as well as he was now. And SNAPE WAS KISSING HER! After a millisecond pause, she responded to his kiss, not even knowing why she did so. Her hands burrowed into his, surprisingly, soft hair as she held onto him tightly. Feelings that she had never experienced before welled up inside her. She didn't know what the feeling was, just that it was a pleasant feeling and that she wanted more of it. One of her hands wondered to his back, caressing down to his lower back. His hands hadn't been idle either and they were currently tugging at the hem of her shirt.

All of a sudden, Sna… Severus pushed away from Hermione. Luckily she had been very close to a wall and didn't fall over with the force of the shove. Breathing heavily, she looked at Severus in shock. Shock at her own reaction to the kiss and at him for starting the kiss. Severus looked a little shocked as well but not as much as she was. After a moment of getting back their breath, Severus spoke.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that. All I know is that it seems that when you get upset, I get the urge to kiss you. I tried to get you to calm down, but you didn't hear me. I just hope that you don't get upset too often around me, because I know that that will be my response." After saying this, he strode to the bedroom door and walked into the room, after opening said door.

Hermione just stood in the living area in shock. Slowly she raised her hand and ran her fingertips over her still tingling lips, and smiled a secret smile.


	7. Strangness

Chapter 7

A/N: I have gotten so many reviews and each and every one of them made me smile. They also make me want to keep writing, which I will do.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and is following this story or even all of my stories. I actually had an idea for this story but I wanted to ask for your opinion. I will have a poll up before I put this up so that you can tell me what you think.

Harry and Ron becoming a couple.

I have been playing with this idea for a while but I really don't want to lose any of my readers because they aren't comfortable with Slash stories even if they are only implied. Let me know.

To Guest: Severus reverted to the same age as Hermione so that he doesn't die before her. That will be explained a lot more later.

School is out for now, but I am still working on my real books and still getting ideas for more and not knowing what to do with all of them. AHHHHH!

Anyway, on to the next chapter.

Hermione stood in the same spot for 20 minutes contemplating the kiss, running her fingertips over her lips. Finally she just shrugged and walked over to the love seat, sitting down with her legs stretched out beside her.

She sat in the living area for an hour trying to figure out what she was going to do about the 'getting upset around Severus' thing. She really didn't know how she was going to stop that from happening. She almost always got upset when she was around him; he had just never reacted that way before. She had already surmised that it was because before today she hadn't been of age yet and the soul mate bond hadn't connected yet. They were in all new territory with this and neither knew what to expect. She was just hoping that the bond didn't make them do anything else without their consent.

'I hope Dumbledore finds out what will happen with this bond before we are surprised with something else.' She thought just before yawning widely.

Sliding her feet off of the love seat, she stood up and headed towards the bathroom door. After knocking softly, she listened at the door and when she didn't hear anything, she opened the door and walked in to do her bedtime routine of brushing her teeth, putting her hair up to keep it more manageable after a night's sleep, and then walked into the bedroom for her night clothes. Severus was lounging on the bed reading, having already changed into his sleeping clothes. Unfortunately, that only consisted of a pair of black satin sleep pants. No shirt what so ever and Hermione had to force herself to look away and not to ogle what he kept hidden from his students. Well, ex-students and his body might now be different from what it was just hours ago for all she knew. She knew his body was smaller, because of his teaching robes being too large on him now, but other than that, it was a mystery. And Hermione was always one who needed to solve any mysteries she encountered. Walking over to her truck, she withdrew her only night clothes; a short black tattered t-shirt. It only went down to the middle of her thigh, but she figured that it would work for now until she could get something more appropriate. Turning, she headed back to the bathroom and shut the door. After undressing, she pulled on the shirt over her head and smoothed it down her hips to make sure that it was as far down as she could get it.

Severus watched as Hermione walked into the bathroom with the shirt wondering if that was all she was planning on putting on to sleep in. He had always worn only pants to sleep, but he figured that she would have a fully covering outfit for sleep. He watched as Hermione tried to close the door and failed to notice that the door was still partially open. It was open just enough for him to watch her undress. She grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head to reveal and red lace bra that made him start to drool. Tossing her shirt in the hamper next to the sink, he assumed, she then reached for the elastic band of her skirt. He watched her as she slowly revealed red lace panties that matched her bra and didn't hide much from view to him. 'Wow! Is this really the Know-It-All from my classroom?' That really got him to thinking.

'Has she really been hiding all of that under her robes this whole time? Who would have guessed that this know-it-all witch was hiding all of THAT? And what is that? She has a tattoo? I wonder…' He ended that thought abruptly and shook his head when her night shirt blocked his view of her skin and assets. 'I need to calm down before she gets in here and notices something that shouldn't be here.' He closed his eyes and thought of something else. Breathe, Dumbledore in a tutu. Well, that worked immediately. He heard the door open and Hermione's soft footsteps progressing toward the bed. Opening his eyes, he watched her walk over to the opposite side of the bed than him and climbs in under the covers, staying as far from him as possible.

"You don't snore, do you?" Hermione asked out of nowhere.

"Not that I know of. I haven't been in a position for someone else to tell me if I do or not, recently. Do you?" He answered as best as he could.

"Same here. I haven't been in a position for someone to tell me if I do, ever." She answered and snuggled into her pillow and readied herself for sleep, but he wasn't ready to sleep yet.

"So, you are a virgin?" He asked abruptly, causing Hermione to blush a deep red color.

"Well… I… I just haven't… found the… right man. Is that so wrong?" She stuttered, still facing away from him.

"No, I am just not sure whether to be surprised or not." Severus answered with a shrug. Laying down, he waited for a response, but never received one. Assuming she had fallen asleep, he also turned onto his side facing away from her ready for sleep to claim him. Slowly darkness overtook his consciousness and he dreamed of satin skin and pleasure.

Severus woke slowly and disoriented. The sun was shining through the only window in the room and onto the end of the bed. He didn't remember the events of the previous day. The only thing he knew was that he was wrapped around a woman and was completely naked. All of a sudden, his memory came back and he realized that he should be wearing at least a pair of pants. Slowly, he moved his arms from around Hermione's waist and under her head, luckily without waking her up. As he rose from the bed, he scanned the floor for his pants and spied them halfway across the room on his side of the bed. Wondering how they got there, he stood up and walked over and picked them up, dropping something out of them in the process. Looking down at the scrap of fabric, he quickly identified them and looked up at Hermione in horror. Seeing that she was slowly stirring, he hurried into the bathroom to use the toilet and put on his pants.

Hermione woke from her very erotic dream faster then she wanted to. She vaguely heard a door close nearby. She slowly stretched and then groaned. She was very sore for some reason.

'Probably from my fall yesterday.' She thought shrugging the pain off easily. Sitting up, she yawned and looked around. Not seeing Severus, she flung the blanket off of her legs and groaned again, looking down at the sheets.

'Not now. I am already having a hard time with all of this; I don't need to add my period and PMS to the mix, too.' She thought, shaking her head in frustration at her life at the moment. Standing up, she moved to the bottom of the bed and rummaged in her trunk for her clothes and a pad. Walking toward the bathroom, she glimpsed the piece of fabric on the floor. She turned toward it and picked it up.

It was the underwear that she had been wearing when she went to bed last night.

'How did this get over here? 'She thought. Then she remembered her dream. She had thrown her underwear on the floor in her dream. 'Did I act out this part of my dream? I had to have. Oh My God! I hope Severus didn't see these.' She shoved them into the bundle of her clothes and finished her walk to the bathroom. Knocking on the door, she waited for an answer. Hearing no response, she opened the door and walked in. Getting ready for the day, she thought about her dream from last night.

The thought of those large strong hands stroking her skin and kissing down her neck, made her shiver and hurry to finish her morning routine.

When Hermione finished in the bathroom, she emerged into the living area to find Severus in the kitchen area cooking breakfast. From the smells just starting to come from the pans on the stove, she knew that he was cooking bacon.

"I didn't know you could cook." She commented as she entered the kitchen.

"I can do many things that you don't know about. Since cooking is pretty much like potions, I can do enough to get by. Can you cook?" Severus asked, reaching over to turn the bacon.

"I can but not very many things. Mostly just the simple stuff like bacon, sausages, or spaghetti. Things like that I am ok at but anything else I just don't do. What else can you cook?" Hermione said, rummaging in the refrigerator for orange juice. Pulling it out, she rummaged through the cabinets for a cup and poured a serving for herself and held the bottle of juice up in question to Severus.

"Yes, Please. Thank you. I have learned to cook several things in my life, including baked sweets, spaghetti, pancakes, and other things of the same caliber." He answered as best as he could. Putting the finished bacon on a plate, he turned to Hermione. "Would you like some pancakes with your bacon?" He asked reaching for a bowl with the pancake batter.

"Yes, Please. Thank you." She said, and then hesitated. "Ummm… Did I wake you up last night, maybe by moving around too much?" She tried not to blush as she asked this. She was facing away from him so if she did turn red, he wouldn't notice.

Severus looked up at her in surprise. "No. I slept all night with no interruption. So we can safely say that you don't snore." He joked lightly, turning back to the stove to flip the pancake in the pan.

Hermione looked at Severus in surprise. He was joking around with her. She laughed. "Same goes for you."

Hermione took her and Severus' juice to the living room and put them on the coffee table. Sitting on the recliner that she was in last night while talking to her friends, she thanked Merlin that she didn't wake him up when she threw her underwear.

Moments later, Severus brought out their plates and butter and syrup and set her plate in front of her. After watching him sit and prepare his pancakes the way he apparently liked them, she said;

"Thank you for making breakfast. I am sure if you called on one of the house elves, they would have been happy to do so for you. I mean, I am not one to ask them to do things but I am sure you have been since becoming a teacher." Hermione reached for the butter to smother the pancakes in it and the syrup.

"I know I could have, but I figured that since this is our first breakfast together, I could make it special. I mean, if you don't like me being nice, I can go back to being a bastard about everything. Also, I have used house elves a few times, but only when I needed the help and couldn't do it myself." He defended himself, and then took a bite.

"Sure, like I believe that. Whatever." Hermione shrugged off his defense, not really believing it.

Severus shook his head and just continued to eat in silence. They continued in this way for the rest of the meal. After she was sure that he was done eating, she picked up his plate and fork along with her own and the butter and syrup and took them to the kitchen to be put away and washed. Stowing the condiments, she placed the dishes in the sink and waved her want, instantly cleaning them and put them away in their proper places.

She walked back into the living room and witnessed Severus in the same position as the night before after her friends left.

"Uh-oh! What's wrong now? I'm not upset. I promise." Hermione said looking at him expectantly.

Severus looked up for a second at her then put his head back in his hands. "Why does this always have to be me who has to get the headaches? Well, if you aren't upset, what are you feeling?" He asked, directing the last one to Hermione.

Hermione thought about it for a moment. "Well, a little embarrassed. Why? You have that urge to kiss me again?" She answered and asked, quickly backing up in case his answer was a yes.

Standing up, he looked at her and nodded. "And the feeling is getting worse by the minute. I can only assume that it means you are getting more and more embarrassed by the minute. Do I make you embarrassed or is it the prospect of me kissing you that is making you react this way?" He moved towards her as if stalking her. Each step she took away from him was matched with a step made towards her. She didn't know what to do. Should she let him kiss her and get it over with? Or maybe run and hope that she could get away? Wait, what was she doing? She stopped moving. She was a Gryffindor and they never backed down from a challenge no matter what kind of challenge it was.

Noticing that she had stopped moving, he did as well. They were both still for a few moments. All of a sudden, he moved towards her quickly and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her toward him. She gasped in surprise and brought her hands up to his chest pressing them flat as if to try to push him away. She looked up into his eyes and gulped. Those eyes were filled to the brim with what she thought was lust. She wasn't experienced enough to know this for sure but she almost positive that was what it was. She opened her mouth to speak, but she wasn't allowed to. His lips were on hers and demanding a response from her. Since her mouth was open he took advantage of this and stroked his tongue down her tongue causing her to shiver. His kisses suddenly became softer and less intense and he ran his tongue over her lips softly and tenderly. Her hands were still until now, while his had been running up and down her back and finally stopped on her butt in order to pull her closer to him. Hermione's hands slowly moved down over his chest and came to the hem of his shirt and pushed her hands under it to feel his surprisingly soft and smooth skin. They were both getting lost in each other and didn't hear the knock on the door or it opening.

Suddenly Severus was pulled away from Hermione and she slumped against the wall behind her to catch her breath. She then looked up to see who had interrupted them and saw…

Questions for you until next time!

Who pulled him away?

What happened the night before?

Why are they getting the urge to kiss so often?

Are there any more emotions that make them kiss to resolve the feeling?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will try to get another chapter up as soon as I possibly can.

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	8. Interruptions

Chapter 8

A/N: I have received a review that has a very good idea. If I decide to put the Ron and Harry slash pair in this story, I will put a warning in parentheses before I write it and tell you when it is over so that you can continue reading. I hope that helps all of you who don't like or would prefer not to read that kind of story.

I don't know if I will get this out too soon after the last one but I am going to try.

Now on to the new chapter.

… Harry with a hold of the front of Severus' shirt.

"Harry! Let him go! What are you doing? Why are you here?" Hermione asked him, still trying to catch her breath from the kiss. "How did you get in?" She looked behind Harry and spotted Ron sprawled on the floor. "What happened to Ron?" Looking back at Harry, she realized that he wasn't listening to her. Lunging forward, she stomped up to Harry and punched him in the back of the neck.

"Ouch!" Harry said, letting go of Severus and putting one hand on the injured spot and the other out in front of him at Hermione as if to ward her off. "What did you do that for? I haven't done anything wrong."

"Nothing wrong? What about dragging Severus around the room? And I asked you a few questions that I want answered and you were ignoring me. Go wake Ron up and go. Sit. Down." Hermione finished pointing at the sofa. After Harry moved to do as she said, Hermione turned toward Severus to see if he was hurt. "Are you okay?"

Severus looked up at her and nodded with a small smirk. "Of course. He couldn't hurt me if he wanted to."

Hermione shook her head and barked out a small laugh. Then she turned toward the recliner that she had been using the whole time and, walking over to it, sat down. She waited for Severus to join them before she began speaking.

"Now, again my first question is; what are you doing here?"

"Well, we got worried when you didn't come down to breakfast so we came up to make sure you were ok." Harry explained with a shrug.

"I guess we forgot to tell you that Dumbledore has excused me from my classes for the next few days so that we," She waved her hand between herself and Severus. "Could get used to having to be around each other so often. This is why we decided to eat in our rooms." Hermione finished. "Since you answered my next question already, my third question is; How did you get in here? We didn't tell you our password."

"Well, that was an accident. I knocked, but when no one answered I started to ramble to Ron that you were both probably still asleep and it wasn't as if you were doing anything because it wasn't as if you were each other's true love, and the door just opened." Harry said and shrugged.

Hermione shook her head. "Great! Well, now that you know it, you are not to use it at any time. Or I will punch you again, Harry. Next time it will be in the face."

"Okay. I won't, I promise." Harry said.

"Last question; why was Ron on the floor?" Hermione asked, and slumped into her chair.

"I wasn't expecting to walk into your room to see you kissing Snape, so I passed out in surprise. Why were you kissing?" Ron asked.

"Umm... Well…" Hermione started, looking over at Severus.

"It would seem that whenever she gets upset or embarrassed around me, I get a headache and the urge to kiss her. The headache won't go away until I do so or so it seems. That is why when you intruded on our rooms you saw us kissing. Hermione had been embarrassed around me this morning and that is what happened." Severus explained with a shrug.

Harry and Ron looked stricken.

Hermione sighed and stood. "I suggest you two get to class now before you're late and get detentions for it."

"But we can't leave you here with him. He might try to kiss you again." Ron argued standing up as well.

"And that is my problem not yours. Let me handle it on my own. I don't need your help." Hermione said, starting to feel a little frustrated with her friends. They were just trying to help but she wanted to figure this out all on her own if she could. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Severus put his head in his head. Glancing over at him, she groaned. "You guys are making it worse. Please, go!" She pointed at the door. Harry and Ron glanced at Severus and then at each other before walking out the door. Hermione turned to Severus and watched him for a moment. When she didn't feel as frustrated about Harry and Ron, she spoke.

"I guess frustration is another feeling that we will have to watch out for. Do you ever have any feelings? I mean, so that I know if I will have to watch out for these headaches, too." Hermione asked quickly.

"Yes, I have feelings. The headache is lessening. I am glad to find that you can control your emotions when you want to, Miss Granger." He replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Of course I can. What? You think that I do things only on impulse and my emotions alone? I am not stupid as you very well know." She said with a shake of her head.

"Bloody thinks- she- knows- everything." Severus said under his breath, thinking that she couldn't hear him. She heard him loud and clear.

"I do not think that I know everything. Not even. Why do you always do that?" Hermione asked. "Are you trying to start a fight with me? Because that is where we are heading."

"Whatever. I don't care. You should know that already. As you and the other students assume, I don't have any good emotions, so that is fine for you to assume." Severus said, starting to get annoyed with her.

"You don't know what I assume or think that I know about you. I try not to assume anything about anyone. "Assuming makes an ass out of you and me" is what I always say and I go by that and nothing and no one else's opinion. The only judgment I have made is what I see. I have seen that you have favoritism to the Slytherins, you work hard at potions because you seem to like the subject, you hide so much of yourself that I am not sure why you want to teach DADA, but you apparently do. You ask questions in potions to get an answer but when I raise my hand to do just that, you ignore me or patronize me for it. You need to make up your mind about what you want…" Hermione was once again silenced by Severus' lips pressing to hers.

She froze for a few seconds not having realized what was happening with her getting upset at him, but then figured it out and melted into the kiss. The kiss started out with only their lips touching, and nothing else. Their hands hung at their sides limply. Slowly Hermione's hands rose to grasp ahold of Severus' shirt tightly to keep from falling over due to her shaky legs that threatened to collapse from under her. 'He is such a good… No… a GREAT kisser! Who would have thought that Severus Snape could kiss like THIS!'

Severus' hands finally came up and he slid his fingers through her hair. Tilting her head and his own he took possession of her mouth and made her feel light headed, dreamy even. He bit softly down on her bottom lip and pulled it into his mouth to suck on. Hermione moaned and moved her hands around to his back to pull him closer. Her hands then dropped down to the hem of his shirt and pulled it up. Both hands delved under and up his shirt to feel the surprisingly soft skin. His hands left her hair and went for the hem of her shirt and repeated her actions. His hands moved from her back to her belly and then trailed up to cup her breasts. They were a perfect fit for his hands. His fingers softly fluttered over her nipples and she pulled away from the kiss to gasp in shock and pleasure at the sensation. She had never felt a sensation like this before and she really didn't know how to react. She had already told him that she didn't have any experience with sex, but she wasn't naïve about it either. She just didn't realize that it would feel this good. And they hadn't even done anything major yet. Slowly, she realized that he had stopped moving and was watching her intently. Probably to figure out what she was thinking, but she wasn't going to assume.

"Why did you stop?" She asked, breathing heavily. Severus looked at her for a moment before he answered her.

"I just wasn't sure if you were trying to tell me something when you pulled away from the kiss." He said. "But you seem to be having more fun than I first thought. Do you want to continue?"

Hermione thought about that for a moment. Should she continue necking with Severus and eventually have sex with him today, the day after they found out about their situation. This did seem to be going a little too fast, so she was going to have to say no. But she really wanted to continue. She wanted to explore this new experience as quickly as possible, but she just didn't thing she was ready just yet.

"No. Not yet. Sorry, I don't think I am ready for that yet." She said, shaking her head.

"Okay." Severus removed his hands from her shirt and seemed to be waiting for something that she couldn't figure out. After a minute, he smirked and said, "You are going to have to let go of me at some point." He pointed to her hands, which were still around his back under his shirt and holding him close to her.

She looked down startled to realize that her hands hadn't dropped yet. "Oh, sorry, I didn't even realize." Hermione dropped her hands and laughed nervously at her mistake. She turned and walked to the bedroom door. Before she went through it, she said, "We should do something today. Maybe go to Hogsmeade and get you some new clothes that fit. Or something."

Severus looked at her for a moment and then said, "I can just keep shrinking my old clothes, but sure."

Hermione nodded and walked through the door, to get ready to go to town.

A/N: Okay, so I hope you liked this update. I have never before written a love scene so bear with me here, if you will. I have been trying to get all of my new semester homework done and write this story and trying to update my others, but it seems that my time keeps getting sucked into doing other things that aren't even my responsibility. Rini1999 knows what I am talking about.

Please review!

Questions I am leaving you with:

Will something happen to them in Hogsmeade?

Why is Severus allowing Hermione to pull him to town to shop?

Will Harry and Ron interrupt them again or will it be someone else?

When will Dumbledore tell them the bad/good news about their bond?


	9. Carriage Adventure

Chapter 9

Hermione and Severus walked out of their apartments and headed down the hallway toward the front doors. On their way out of the building, they were seen by several students who stopped in their tracks to stare at them. Hermione couldn't tell if they were staring because of her being with a guy or if it was because they knew who her guy was.

'He is NOT my guy! ... Okay, so maybe he is TECHNICALLY, but... whatever.' She tried reprimanding herself.

They finally made it to the doors and walked outside. The beginning of fall was plain by the changing of the leaves on the trees and some on the ground. It wasn't cold or windy that day so they hadn't even bothered with jackets. Hermione had assumed that with such short notice that they would have to walk to Hogsmeade, but waiting not far from them was a horseless carriage that Hermione knew was actually pulled by Thestrals.

"Seems like Dumbledore knew that we were going out." Hermione said with a laugh.

"Yes." Severus said with a shrug and then headed towards the carriage. Hermione immediately followed. Severus politely offered Hermione his hand to help her get up the stairs of the carriage. Holding onto the railings, he hauled himself into the seat as well and off they went.

The ride to the village was just as silent as the walk and it was getting to Hermione, so of course, she started to babble.

"So... What are we going to do besides get new clothes for you in town? Did you need to get something? I want to go to the book store as well, if you are okay with it." She immediately knew that she was babbling, so she stopped talking.

"After we get the clothes, then we can go to the book store. I also have a few things that I have to get from there." He paused for a moment in thought. "Then, if you want to, we can go get something to eat at the Three Broomsticks." He finished, then turned to look at her before saying, "Is that what you wanted?"

Hermione blushed, but nodded in answer. Severus placed a hand on his head right after that. Hermione immediately realized what was happening. "Sorry." She said, quickly. "I didn't mean to get embarrassed."

Severus looked up at her and just stared for a few seconds before saying, "Why are you embarrassed about going to eat with me at the Three Broomsticks?"

Hermione was silent for a moment to think and realized something. "I guess, I am going to need to be as honest as possible around you, huh? Okay. I had a crush on you last year and you saying that just surprised me into remembering all of my school girl crush fantasies of that year." Hermione said without looking at him. She tried her hardest not to get any more embarrassed, but nothing seemed to help.

"What kind of fantasies? I know you mean the sexual kind, but I mean more specific." He surprised her by saying. Looking over at him, she noticed that his hand had dropped from his head.

"Oh, Umm... Well... There was one that featured you and me in your class room in our normal clothes. It was a detention. Not the normal detention, either." She wasn't sure if she should go into more detail, but she was saved from having to do so by the carriage stopping. Hermione looked around and realized that they had made it to the village faster than she though they should have been able to. Severus stepped down from the high steps of the carriage and then reached up to grasp her waist to lift her down. His hands felt comforting around her waist and safe, which didn't make any sense to her, but as he lifted her up, she placed her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. As he lowered her to the ground, she had a funny thought.

'Isn't this how gentlemen are supposed to help ladies from high places? I have never thought of Severus as a gentleman, but I guess this counts as a gentlemanly gesture. Sweet!'

The way he lowered her to the ground reminded her of the romantic moments in the movies, where the woman's body would run along the man's body and the two would look longingly into each other's eyes, as he lowered her to the ground. Looking into Severus' eyes was very mesmerizing and make it impossible to look away. After Severus placed her on the ground, his hands lingered for a moment longer than was necessary to make she was steady on her feet. Severus was staring at her with an odd look in his eyes, one Hermione couldn't understand.

All of a sudden, Hermione got an intense headache and an overwhelming urge to kiss the teen in front of her for no reason. She didn't fight the urge, but instead, lifted her hand and place it at the nape of his neck. Severus didn't react to the change in their position. She rose up to lightly placed her lips on top of his. She wasn't experienced with kisses, so she was very hestiant to move and do something wrong.

After a brief pause of neither moving, Severus began leading the kiss. He seemed to be trying to teach her how to lead and after the moment, he allowed her to take over and lead the kiss. They weren't allowed to continue their deep kiss though, because out of nowhere, Severus heard a wolf- whistle from behind him. Severus heard someone say "Get a room!" and he heard their foot steps as they walked away. A thought hit Severus hard and he began laughing, which broke the kiss.

Hermione looked at him in confusion and shock and dropped her hand. She had never seen him laugh and had never thought that she would get the chance.

'His laugh is so sexy! How come he doesn't laugh normally?' Hermione thought. She must have said it out loud, because he looked at her and stopped laughing. He still had a smile on his face when he answered her question.

"I used to until I joined the Death Eaters. You don't really have the opportunity to really laugh, but now that moldybutt is dead by his own doing, I have more free will and chances to laugh. The only thing that would make my life better would be if my mark would just disappear..." Severus trailed off as he gazed in shock at his left forearm, which he had raise while he spoke to show her the mark.

Hermione leaned over to see what had made him so speechless. She gasped in shock. The spot that used to sport the skull and snake tattoo was completely void of any marks that would prove that there had been anything there to begin with.

Severus lifted his other hand and ran his fingers down the clear skin in wonderment.

"What happened to it?" Hermione asked in confusion. "Was it fading after HE died?"

"No. I was hoping it would fade or even go away automatically, but it hasn't moved or changed in anyway since he died. I don't understand what happened to it." He stared at his arm for another few seconds before, out of nowhere, he looks up at hermione and grinned full out. Reaching out, he picked her up and spun her around in excitement. Hermione quickly put her hands on his shoulders to balance herself. His smile was very contagious and she found herself smiling at him as well. She could understand how exciting this moment could be to him and she was happy for him. Severus finally put her down and let go on her waist when he realized how out of character he was being. He cleared his throat and glanced around to see if anyone noticed his exuberance. A few people were looking at him and grinning, probably thinking that they were the cutest couple around town, but of course that wasn't what Severus thought.

"What? Nothing is of interest to you here. Stop gawking at me just because I am..." Severus was interupted by Hermione saying. "Sorry about him, he is a little embarrassed by his outburst, carry on."

Everyone who had stopped to watch them continued on with their shopping trips. Hermione turned to look at Severus and waited for him to get his full composure back. After a moment, he looked at her expectantly.

"Are you ready to go to the clothing store first?" Hermione asked with a smile.

"Yes, Let us go." Severus said with a sigh. They both turned toward the local clothing store that sold muggle clothes. As they walked to the door, Severus reached out his hand and took hold of hers. This made her look at him in surprise. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and smirked at her.

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. I have been having trouble figuring out how I want things to happen. Writer's block hurts me so badly. I have been getting so many great reviews from people who really like this story and I appreciate all of your support! Please stay with me. I know this chapter wasn't even close to my best, but if you will bear with me I am working on making this story better. I don't have a computer currently so I have to write my stories the old fashion way and then type it up on my aunts computer.

I will immediately start working on the next chapter tomorrow morning.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please Review! I really enjoy all of the comments!

Questions I will leave you with:

Will Severus allow Hermione to help him pick out his new clothes?

How did Severus' mark disappear?

What will Dumbledore tell them about the bond after they return to the Castle?


	10. Explanations and Expeditions

A/N: Soooo sorry for not updating for so long. I have been trying to keep up with my classes and that was a job and a half. But enough with the excuses, I made this chapter extra-long just for you and your patience. A whole 3500 words just for your reading pleasure. I am already working on the next chapter. Finals are over for now and I have time before Christmas to get at least one more chapter done and posted.

On to the story, I hope you enjoy!

Explanations and Expeditions

Chapter 10

They walked in silence until they reached the door to the clothing shop. Severus grabbed the door and pulled it open to allow Hermione through before walking through himself.

They wondered over to a rack of male clothes and started looking for something to try on. Hermione picked up a purple beetles band shirt to show Severus, but he immediately glared his disapproval at her. Turning away, he picked up a plain black T-shirt and held it up.

"This is more my style." He said.

"Well, Duh! I know that, but I think you need a change from your normal gothic wardrobe. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I just want to see you in something more like what you are currently wearing. Red looks surprisingly good on you." Hermione immediately replied, while looking for another shirt to show him. Severus looked at her with one black brow raised. He then places the black shirt back where he found it and continued looking.

They continued rummaging through the clothes and holding them up for the other to see. Eventually, they had enough for him to try on. Several items that Hermione had picked up, Severus refused to try on, but Hermione had put them in the pile anyway.

Severus walked into the dressing room with his pile of clothes thinking that if he didn't grab her pile that she would just give up. Unfortunately for him, the cold shoulder to Hermione was a challenge. She marched into the dressing room and dropped the clothes on top of his pile.

"I won't try any of that on." Severus said stubbornly.

"Then I will stay in here and make sure that you do." Hermione said, with a nod. Before Severus could react outwardly to her challenge, she turned and started looking for an outfit for him to try on. She found a pair of light blue jeans and a red t-shirt with nothing on the front. Severus had picked the jeans and she had chosen the shirt. Turning around, she was shocked to find that Severus hadn't moved to undress. He seemed to be in shock at what she had said. Hermione moved to stand in front of him.

"Okay, if you won't do it then I will." Hermione said and reached down to pull off his shirt. Just as she grasped the bottom of his shirt, he unfroze and grabbed at her hands to stop her.

"Hey! Don't you dare! You are not staying in here to help me change!" Severus said, insistently. "Get Out!" He said and pointed at the door.

Hermione tossed the clothes over her shoulder and put her hands on her hips.

"Now that you are 17 again, you are going to have to change up your style of lack-there-of." Hermione said with impatience in her voice. "I will NOT be caught hanging out with someone who only wears one side of the color spectrum. I was extremely happy to see you wearing red yesterday, so please just try on what I have chosen and let me see all of them. If they don't look good I will be the first to gladly admit it and we don't have to purchase them."

"Stop treating me like a child!" Severus said to her. Surprisingly, when he said this, he stomped his foot. Hermione dropped her hands and looked at him, flabbergasted that Severus Snape, her snarky, rude, mean potions master professor, would stomp his foot like a little child throwing a tantrum ever, but especially not when he was telling her not to teat him like a child. Quickly getting over her shock, she placed her hands back on her hips and said.

"If you don't want to be treated like a child, then don't act like one. Stomping your foot doesn't get you anywhere."

Severus stopped and thought 'I AM acting like a child! Like one of the first years and I teach! Bloody Hell!' He had to sit down with this realization.

"I am sorry. I didn't realize how I was acting. I will try on all of the clothes, but it would be more comfortable for me if you waited outside the dressing rooms. Is that acceptable to you?" Severus amended with the hope that she would forget how he acted. He didn't know what was going on, but he didn't want it getting around that he was acting like a child, either.

Hermione dropped her hands and nodded. Grabbing the clothes from her shoulder, she hands them to Severus and walks out the door to wait.

'I wonder if the soul mate bond is making him act this way to help him see what it is like to be a real child. From what I have heard from Harry, he didn't get to have the chance to be a child. He'd had to grow up too fast. I wonder what made him grow up so fast?' Hermione thought after finding a recliner to sit down in.

Just then the door to the dressing room opened to a comical sight. This was the day she found out why Severus didn't wear colors. He looked too feminine in them. With his long hair and slim waist, the colors made him look too much like a girl, which Hermione didn't think was even possible. Hermione raised her hand to quickly cover her mouth as a giggle burst out trying to hide it. Severus apparently heard it and froze in front of the door to the dressing room. He stared at her with a brow raised. His expression only made her laugh harder. She was glad that she was sitting down or she would have been rolling on the floor with laughter.

"What is so funny?" Severus finally asked darkly, looking a little put out. He walked over to the mirror that was just a few feet from where he had been standing and looked into it to see what had her laughing so hard.

"Now you know why I don't wear as many colors as most people do," He said, turning toward her.

Hermione was finally able to calm her laughter down enough to say,

"I see that now, but I always thought that you didn't wear colors to seem more initmidating."

"Well, now you know differently, but you better not tell anyone my secret. If I find out that you did, I swear that I will... " Severus started to say but was interupted by Hermione pulling him down to kiss him into silence. The feeling of her soft lips against his was a surprise, but not unpleasantly so. He wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer. His lips took over the kiss and deepened it. He ran his tongue across her bottom lip asking for entrance. When she opened her mouth, he dove in to explore. After a moment of this, Hermione moaned her enjoyment.

Out of nowhere, they both heard someone clearing their throat. It took them a moment to respond to the interuption, but when they realized what the noise meant, they jumped apart, guiltily.

The sales clerk was standing nervously a few feet away from them looking everywhere but at them.

"Ummm... excuse me, but... I... I need you to stop doing that here... please either stop or leave the shop." She hesitantly said, while she wring her hands.

Hermione cleared her throat before speaking to the clerk. "We are so sorry. I didn't mean to offend anyone."

"What could be offensive about a kiss?" Severus asked in his usual snarky tone, crossing his arms.

"No, Sir. The kiss isn't what was offensive to the other customers… it was… ummm… that…" She finished finally and pointed at Severus. Hermione and Severus both followed the direction she was pointing and realized that Hermione had somehow gotten Severus' pants unzipped without him realizing it or feeling her doing it.

Severus looked up at Hermione in astonishment. He reached down to refasten himself, and then looked back at the clerk.

"I do apologize for this. We will finish shopping quickly and then leave your shop in peace." Severus said calmly.

As the clerk hurried away from them, Hermione dropped into her seat and buried her face in her hands in clear embarrassment.

"Now don't start with the embarrassment, because you know what will happen if you do. We wouldn't want to be kicked out now." Severus quipped, moving away from her and toward the changing room.

Before he reached the door, Hermione quickly said, "Keep the jeans, four other pairs of jeans, five different shirts that are actual colors besides black, and make sure you have long sleeved and short sleeved."

Severus stopped his forward trek and turned to Hermione with a raised brow at her bossiness. Hermione blushed and then quickly straightened up. She looked him in the eyes and said,

"Yes, I am bossy. If you don't think that I am on a daily basis, then you can just ask Ron and Harry. I tell them when to do their homework all the time." She finished stating this with a nod as if her statement was a solid fact. For all he knew it was true and he was certainly not going to ask her idiot friends.

Instead of responding to her, he shook his head in amusement and turned to enter the dressing room. He quickly changed back into his original clothes and chose the few items that Hermione had requested. When he was done with this, he pulled his wand from the holster at his side and banished the remaining clothes back to their rightful places in the store.

As he opened the door, he replaced his wand into its holster. He walked through the door frame and went to stand in front of Hermione.

"Let's go," she said, waving her hand up to the lady waiting behind the counter for them. Severus took the selected clothes to her and placed them on the counter. The process of paying for the clothes went quickly and soon they were leaving the store to head back up to the school in the still waiting carriage.

"Wait, we still need to go to the book store. And get something to eat." Hermione said, stopping just a few feet in front of the carriage.

"Oh. Right, I forgot." Severus said, even though he really hadn't, he was just hoping that she had. Not that he didn't want to spend more time with her, but… No… That was exactly what he wanted. It was hard being near her for more reasons than her just being bossy. All of the times that they got frustrated, embarrassed, or upset just made him being near her, and NOT kissing her, harder than he would normally have thought it would be, and that was something that he would never admit out loud to anyone let alone her. In all of the years that he had taught her potions, he had never thought of her as anything but the annoying know-it-all that didn't know when to lower her hand and shut up.

By the time he was done with this thought, he looked up and realized that they had made it to Flourish and Blotts book store. They walked through the opened doors and each went their own ways to get what they required.

Severus really only needed to get a few books on advanced potions and maybe one on soul mates. He needed reading material to keep him busy and an updated potions journal or two would be perfect for him and this purpose. After he found the two books on potions he wanted, he wondered over to the bonds section of the store only to run into Hermione, who had obviously been there for a few minutes and was holding two books already. He couldn't tell what subject the books were on, but he wouldn't allow himself ask her the nosy question. He stopped to stand right beside her and look at the books in front of him seemingly ignoring her. He placed his newly acquired books in the shelf in front of him to free up his hands. She didn't seem to notice him either and continued to look at the books in front of her.

He didn't know what came over him, but before he realized what he was doing, he leaned over and bit down lightly on her exposed ear. Hermione shrieked and jumped a foot in the air, dropping her books in the process, while Severus just stood there with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. A face other people who were nearby, jumped at the sudden noise in the quiet room and looked around for the source of it. They spotted Hermione and Severus just as she smacked him in the chest. The culprit now found, they went back to their perusal of the shelves. All except one blonde spectator, whom the new couple hadn't yet spotted as Hermione laid into Severus for his cruel action.

"What the Hell was that? You scared me half to death." She said, smacking him in the chest.

Severus didn't answer, except to shrug his shoulders. Hermione shook her head at him and bent to pick up her books from the floor.

"Now, what do we have here?" An unknown voice spoke from behind Hermione, startling her into standing up quickly. Spinning around, she realized that the speaker was non-other than Lucius Malfoy, who had obviously been staring at her butt. When he saw who was attached to the butt he had been ogling, his expression went from mischievous to confused. It took him a moment to speak.

"Oh, well, if it isn't Miss Granger. Not who I expected, but never mind that." He finally said and turned toward Severus and said. "I only came over to inquire as to your identity. I know that I have met you before, but I can't quite place where. Would you remind me where we have met before?" He watched Severus as he glanced at Hermione and smirked a secret smile at her. Hermione watched them with a small smile that seemed to show her acknowledgement of his amusement.

"Well, it would help if I knew your name?" Severus deflected.

"Oh, I do apologize. I am Lucius Malfoy. And you are?" Lucius redirected back at Severus.

"Well, I don't know if you would remember it or not, but we met at Hogwarts several years ago. By the way, have you spoken with your son recently? If you had, I can guarantee that you would know exactly who I am. Now, if you will excuse us, we must be going." Severus finished with a nod of his head in Lucius's direction. He turned and picked up his book, then turned to direct Hermione up to the counter to pay for their books. After doing so, they headed out make their way to the Three Broomsticks.

The walk down the street was relatively quiet as they both though about their first encounter with someone who didn't know about the new Severus and circumstances behind them. They walked through the door of the popular tavern to a warm and slightly busy atmosphere. Looking around, they both spotted a secluded booth near the back at the same time. Hermione glanced at Severus to make sure that he saw the same one and then they headed to it and sat down.

"So… That was… interesting… and weird. Didn't you two go to school together? How do you go to school with someone for seven years and not recognize them as they were when they were younger?" Hermione asked, leaning forwards with her arms on the table.

"We aren't the same age and we didn't meet until he was in 6th year and I was in my 1st year at Hogwarts. It seems that everyone believes that we look the same age. He is, in fact, older than me by 6 years." Severus replied, seeming to be indignant to Hermione.

Hermione was silent for a moment before she said "I'm sure most people have just speculated based on the fact that you two know each other and are at the same age as most of our parents. You are a very private person and many are just not happy until they have a plausible story to go with everyone. I personally didn't know what to think so I didn't speculate for the most part. Sometimes I wondered if you were the same age, but your spying days probably made you look older than you really were, because of all of the stress." Hermione stopped when she saw that Severus was staring at her in astonishment.

"You really are a very smart witch. I'm sure no one has ever thought of how the spying would affect me personally. They only know that my work kept them alive until the Dark Lord…" Severus hesitated, "… Died. By the way, what were you told about this death?" Severus asked, looking at her curiously.

"Well, I have heard many different versions. One was that Voldemort went mad and danced off of a cliff. Another said that he threw a spell at a mirror on accident and it ricocheted back and killed him. There were several that featured Harry as the hero, but I know those aren't true, because he told me that he didn't have anything to do with it. He said that he was at Hogwarts at the time of Voldemort's death. Were you there when he died?" Hermione finished by asking.

Before he could answer, Madam Rosemerta walked up to their table and asked what they wanted to eat and drink. They both ordered for themselves and waited until she left before they started talking again.

"I was indeed there when she died, but I don't know if anyone really knows what happened. The other Death Eaters have been trying to keep it quiet, but the fact that he is dead obviously wasn't kept silent." Severus said and he would have continued, but the meal appeared in front of them. They dug in and weren't able to speak again as they sat and enjoyed their food.

After they were finished eating they went to the front and Severus paid for their meals despite Hermione's protestations. Severus led Hermione out the door and down the street to the waiting carriage. He helped her up the steps of the carriage and then climbed up behind her, settling in just before it began the journey back to Hogwarts.

They traveled in silence, neither sure what to say or to talk about anymore. Severus looked over to watch Hermione and had a thought. He didn't know where it came from, but he couldn't stop himself. He leaned closer to her and spoke softly.

"I want to kiss you." Severus saw Hermione jump, as she certainly didn't expect him to say this or be so close. She slowly turned to fact him with a confused look on her face.

"Why? You aren't being made to. I know that you didn't like me before the change, so why would you willingly want to kiss me?" Hermione asked, without showing him the eagerness that his statement had caused.

Severus just shrugged and said "I am being unnaturally curious. Is that a problem?"

Hermione hesitated for a moment then nodded once in acceptance of his request. Severus leaned closer to her slowly. Hermione closed her eyes in anticipation and raided her face toward his. Severus watched her do this and also closed his eyes and inched closer to connect his lips to hers. He was half a centimeter away when the carriage jolted to a stop in front of Hogwarts, startling them out of their moment. Disappointed, Hermione looked out the window and reached for the door handle, but a hand on her chin stopped her from opening it. Curious, she looked back at Severus only to be surprised by his lips covering hers in a possessive kiss. Slowly, he hand left the door handle and reached up to bury itself in his hair, effectively preventing him from pulling away, if he had wanted to, which wasn't exactly his first thought at the moment. His right hand, which had been on her chin, moved up to cup her cheek, while his other wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her tightly against his body. Her spare hand, which had been place on his chest, was now trapped between them. His tongue ran across the seam of her lips, asking silently for entrance. After a second of hesitation, she parted her lips to allow him access and she almost immediately gasped in pleasure from the sensation that he was causing in her body. Warmth pooled in her belly and she squirmed trying to find a way to suppress the feeling, knowing full well what it was.

They were interrupted by a knock on the carriage door. They reluctantly pulled apart and turned to find…

TBC…

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, I wasn't sure where this chapter was going to end, but a fellow reader suggested here, so that is what I did. Minimoon1999, I hope you are happy!

Here are the questions I am leaving you with:

Will Dumbledore call them up to his office with information of the bond?

Who interrupted Hermione and Severus's make out session?

How will the intruder(s) react to the sigh of the two making out?

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Please Review!


	11. Yummy Goodness

A/N: I am so sorry that I wasn't able to get this out as a Christmas present. I lost internet access for a while there, but I am back and I hope this chapter makes up for the lost time.

Chapter 11

…Seamus and Dean looking at them through the window of the carriage looking a little disgusted, but also very amused at having caught Hermione and Severus snogging in a carriage in front of Hogwarts for all to see. Hermione looked at them with surprise, not having expected these two people to interrupt them instead of walking away and pretending they didn't see them.

Hermione glanced at Severus to find out what he thought about their being interrupted. He was looking at the two boys in confusion. He started to open his mouth to say something, but before anything same out he turned his head and shook it harshly. Hermione turned back to the two boys and stared at them for a moment.

Hermione quickly recognized why he was being quiet and opened the door to the carriage, stepping down to the step then onto the ground to talk to for fellow Gryffindors.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" Hermione asked as if they hadn't just caught her snogging Severus Snape.

"Well, I was actually going to ask you the same question, but I think I can guess the answer. Are you having fun?" Dean asked with a teasing smirk.

Hermione was stopped from answering by Severus climbing down from the carriage.

"I don't think that is any of your business, Mr. Thomas. Now, why don't you and your boyfriend go annoy someone else for a change?" He said in his usual mocking tone.

Seamus and Dean paled when he said "boyfriend." They started stuttering, obviously trying to deny that words truth. They obviously never wanted to tell anyone about this new development.

"Guys, there is no use trying to deny it. Apparently when Severus was de-aged and we started this bond, we received the ability to sense if anyone is interested in our… mate, for lack of a better word. And if they are not, then we can sense who they are interested and if they are single or taken. Also by whom they are taken. I don't know why this is a new gift, but it is certainly coming in handy at the moment." Hermione explained, with an amused and very familiar smirk.

The boys had stopped trying to deny Severus' comment and had been silent, until they say her smirk. They glanced at each other and then at Hermione in surprise for a moment in silence. Finally, Seamus spoke, looking at Hermione.

"You have been spending too much time with your mate. That smirk was a perfect replica of Snape's." He said before he turned to grab Dean's hand and, pulling him away from them, they walked towards the Quidditch pitch.

Hermione turned to Severus to see if he was okay after that confrontation but he was already gathering their shopping bags to carry them inside. Hermione tried to grab her bag of books from him to carry it on her own, but he wouldn't allow her to.

By the time he had everything gathered together, she knew he couldn't see anything and he looked like a pack mule. Hermione put her hands on her hips disapprovingly.

"Severus, you know that I can help you get all this stuff inside easily and if I help, you could actually see where you are going. Why do you have to be so stubborn and macho?" Hermione finished venting at him before waving her wand at him and the packages, causing his load to rise up and float toward the castle and their rooms. After the last bag left Severus arms, Hermione was finally able to see that he was looking very… Satisfied?

'Why is he looking satisfied? About what?' Hermione thought, looking at him in confusion.

Severus saw her watching him with a contemplative look on her face. He didn't want to tell her anything about the feelings running through his mind and body at the moment because he didn't even know where they came from, but it seemed like he had lost control of his expressions and she could see that something was up. He wasn't used to sharing his feelings and he knew he probably never would be able to because of all the problems in his life.

So instead of explaining the expression, and his thought process and feeling, on his face, he started towards the castle following the floating package's path.

Hermione watched his walk for a moment before she shook her head and started after him. For the entire trek back to their rooms, Hermione kept thinking, 'I am never going to understand this man. I don't know why I try', already frustrated with having to deal with this man.

When she finally reached their rooms, she walked into the apartment to see Severus walking through the door of their bedroom. She walked to their room as well and saw him picking up the bag of clothes, presumably to put them away in their closet. She walked over to their bed and sat down to watch him. It was silent for only a few minutes before Hermione had to speak.

"What was that about out there?" She asked, not caring that he obviously didn't want to talk about it. He was silent for a moment as he put a shirt in the drawer already folded.

"I don't really know. I was just… kind of… proud. I don't know where that feeling came from and thought that I had my emotions under control, but I guess not." Severus finally answered her question, still not facing her.

Standing up, Hermione made her way over and stood just a little behind him. She tapped him on the shoulder, indicating that he needed to turn around. When he finally did ask she indicated, she reached up and kissed him for only a few moments. When she pulled away, she answered him the only way she knew how.

"You need to let me know how you feel and why you think that. I know that you aren't used to doing that, but you need to learn how to or you will just end up looking and acting the same as you did before you were de-aged. I don't know why you were proud of me, but for whatever reason you have the right to feel the way you want." Hermione said, placing her hands on his face.

Severus obviously didn't know how to respond to that, so he just watched her for a moment. Then he reached up to gently caress her face in a caring gesture. He leaned forward to kiss her softly on the lips. When he pulled away, they both had a dazed look in their eyes.

"Thank you for that. I don't know anyone who would let me tell them everything without holding what I tell them against me." He told her and then pulled her in for another full on snog. His lips met hers and she immediately responded, pressing closer to him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He was several inches taller than she was and this was the moment that she realized this, having to rise up on just her toes, while he leaned down to help thing work better. He wrapped his arms around her waist and started to walk her backwards toward the bed. They were so into the kiss that they almost fell onto the bed and then off of it again, because he hadn't thought about where on the bed they would land and they ended up on the edge of it. Severus' fast reflexes kept them from falling, but he had to stop kissing her to do this. His arm was the only thing keeping them both on the bed. This pause in the kiss gave Hermione the opportunity to trail kisses down his neck and find Severus' most sensitive spot.

Severus moaned in surprise and pleasure, arching his head to give her easier access. Without thinking, Severus moved his arm, which was keeping them on the bed, in order to slip his hand up underneath her shirt to caress the smooth skin underneath, but before he could accomplish this, they both slid to the floor with Severus on top. They both made a "Humf" sound when they landed as the breath was knocked out of them. This inadvertently made it impossible for them to continue their exploration of each other and knocked the mood right out of the room. They both laid there in silence for a few moments neither really sure what to say or do in this situation, but Hermione eventually had to speak first as she was being crushed.

"Umm… I can't breathe, would you mind moving, please?" She said trying to wiggle her way out from under him. He immediately pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, slowing rising to his feet. He offered her a hand to help her get up as well and she gladly took it, pulling herself up onto her own feet. They didn't let go of each other's hands for a good minute, while they stared into the other's eyes and tried to figure out what they were thinking or feeling. When they couldn't decipher anything, they both let go at about the same moment.

"So… What should we do now? I mean is there something that you wanted to do without me? Because I would like to get some reading done, if that is okay with you." Hermione said, looking around for her school bag. When Severus didn't answer, she looked back at him in question. He was watching her and obviously thinking something about her. Every few seconds, his eyes would flicker as a new emotion moved through them. Pride, Confusion, understanding, lust, and an emotion that Hermione couldn't quite understand all passed over his face.

Severus suddenly turned around and walked over to the closet.

"I will put my new clothes away and maybe read for a while." Was the only thing he said before starting to put things in the closet.

Hermione watched him for a second before moving into the living room and finding her bag by their couch. She went to her desk and got all she needed out of her bag, setting them down on the desk in preparation of starting her homework. She knew that she didn't need to do any of it for at least one more day, but she didn't want to have to worry about finishing it later.

Hermione got so into her homework that when she finished and finally looked up, she saw that Severus was on the couch reading comfortably and had obviously been there for a few hours as he was almost done with one of the books that he had just bought. She moved to put everything away and then grabbed her wand.

"Tempus," She said waving her wand. The spell caused the time to float in front of her. 9:30 Pm. "I am going to get ready for bed now." She told Severus just before she moved back to the door to their bedroom. Walking through it to their room, she wondered when Dumbledore would find something on this new bond of theirs.

After Hermione got ready for bed, she snuggled into the covers on her side of the bed and slowly sank into her amazing dream land of soft hands and the faint smell of pure man.

A/N: I put a little bit of fluff in there as an apology and a little taste of what I can do in that department. I hope you liked that.

The Questions I leave you with are:

Will anything happen tonight?

When will Dumbledore tell them more about the bond?

Will this new talent of Hermione and Severus come in handy?

Will Severus let Hermione into his heart a little more from now on?

Please Review!


	12. In Too Deep! Surprise!

Disclaimer: I don't, can't, and won't ever own the characters that you recognize or locations in this story, except the plot and the room I made up just for this. J.K. Rowling has the rights to the Harry Potter franchise.

**In Too Deep! Surprise!**

Chapter 12

Hermione woke up feeling strange. She remembered going to sleep alone with Severus on the couch still reading his new potions book. She snuggled into the suddenly lumpy mattress trying to get the strange feeling to go away. When that didn't work, she had to open her eyes to figure out why she had been woken up. The first thing she saw was a pale arm, which caused her to raise her head to find the rest of the body and realized that it was running along hers underneath her. As she watched and tried to figure out why and how this happened, Severus started to stir and she realized that she should move off of him before he completely awoke.

She sat up intending to get off of her soul mate and the strange feeling changed, but stayed. She realized that the feeling was coming from inside her body. As she was thinking and trying to figure out the feelings, Severus woke feeling a warm presence atop him with him buried inside. He didn't remember falling asleep, let alone putting down his book. He opened his eyes to find Hermione sitting astride him with a look of pure confusion on her face. It took him a moment to realize what was going on and why she was confused.

"Well, I don't know how you got where you are, but you might want to move before I do something that will embarrass us both." Severus spoke and made her jump, just a little. She looked down at him and realized her hands were on his chest.

"What do you mean?" She asked, clearly not understanding what was going on. Severus didn't know how to tell her what was going on without indicating that she was stupid which would end up with them fighting and then kissing, so he answered by tilting his hips up and in doing so he moved himself deeper inside her body. Hermione's eyes widened when she realized what the strange feeling was.

She immediately started to move off of him, but ended up twisting the wrong way and fell off of the bed with a squeak.

"W-W-What? H-H-How did we… I mean, when did we… Did you…" Hermione stuttered while trying to stand up, not sure which question she wanted answered first.

Severus didn't answer, but instead stared at her in obvious surprise. Hermione saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head. Hermione stared and the blatant interest growing right in front of her eyes in the form of his…

"Oh… My… That was inside of me just now? How is that even possible?" Hermione unknowingly slipped into her know-it-all persona. She really wanted to know the answer to her questions. When she didn't get a reply from Severus, she looked back at him to see that he was still staring at her, but his expression had changed to something she hadn't seen before now from Severus; Lust.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong…?" Hermione trailed off when Severus got up out of the bed and stalked over to her. Before she knew it, he had her over his shoulder and heading towards the bed.

Hermione was so stunned by him picking her up that she didn't really react to it or to him tossing her on the bed. By the time the shock wore off, Severus was hovering over her with his body keeping her from moving.

"What are you doing? Get off of me!" Hermione said, wiggling around trying to get out from under him, but all she succeeded in doing was to have her hands secured over her head with one of his hands.

Severus really couldn't help himself. All he knew was that she had been standing there wearing absolutely nothing. When she went into student mode, he couldn't help thinking about some of her daydreams from yesterday. He suddenly had a vision of her bent over his teacher's desk with him behind her thrusting into her over and over again, while she gripped the edge of his desk trying not to be pushed off of it with the force of his thrusts.

As he gazed down at the Hermione in front of him, he wondered how she would react to him willingly kissing her. Maybe he would be allowed to do a little exploring as well. He leaned down and his lips met her ear before he whispered.

"You know, I feel like an old pervert, but you should know that standing in front of a man naked will only make him want to take you in any and all possible ways. To me your student persona while naked is bloody sexy." After this he shifted to glance at her expression before stealing her lips for a deep, searching kiss; one meant to keep her from thinking about anything except him and his lips. Pulling away a moment later, Severus saw Hermione's eyes were unfocused. He took the time it took her to focus on him to tell her something that he had been thinking about for a few hours yesterday while they had been out.

"From now on I am going to start acting my new age, at least in private. I don't want to hear rumors going around that I am not the tough person now that I was before the soul bond changed me into a teenager again." He said, waiting for her to focus again. "This means that there will be no more awkwardness around me. I am not your potions professor anymore. I know that I have been acting the same way towards you, like you were still my student, but I thought about it last night and during part of our day out. Do you agree with this or am I alone in this…?" Severus continued, but was interrupted by Hermione rising up to press her lips to his in obvious agreement.

For the next several minutes they simply explored the others mouth and the reaction of each angle of exploration. Slowly Severus released her hands to trail both of his over her body. One hand slowly ran down to her hip, while his other feathered down her face to settle on the side of one of her breasts. When Hermione realized that her hands were free, she quickly reached up to twine her fingers into his long, thick, and surprisingly soft hair.

Hermione, at first, didn't know how to respond to what he had been saying earlier, but when he started asking the question she saw the uncertainty in his eyes. So she did the one thing that she knew would assure him of her acceptance more than any word could. When she leaned up to kiss him, she only thought it would be a quick kiss. After only an instant of contact, Hermione realized that her thought of a quick kiss was not realistic. She thought this just before she wasn't able to think anymore. The feelings that were swirling through both of them were so intense that neither heard the knock at their bedroom door. Severus broke their kiss to trail kisses down her neck to her breast. Before she knew what he was about to do, he took her nipple into his mouth. The sensation surprised her into crying out and her fingers tightened in his hair to an almost painful level. Severus didn't even feel it. He was too busy enjoying the noises coming from her at his ministrations.

"Oh… My… Bloody Hell!" a clearly female voice said out of nowhere. The voice seemed breathless and husky as though the person behind it was enjoying what they were seeing.

Hermione gasped and tried to push Severus away from her so that she could cover up her naked body, but Severus was not budging from his position at her breast.

"Severus! Stop! Someone is here and watching up!" Hermione said, trying to pull him out of his obvious sexual haze.

Severus slowly lifted his head to glance at the person standing at the door of their bedroom.

"I hope they are learning something that they can use themselves. I suggest you leave this room, Miss Lovegood, unless you wish to join in the fun?" Severus said, clearly joking around. All he got in response to this question was an eager nod and a wide grin.

"Please leave so that we can get dressed. NOW!" He responded in a rather irritated voice. For some reason the way he said this made Hermione want to reach up and pull him down for a kiss. She realized just as she was reaching up to pull him down why she was feeling this way. Yanking her hand away from his face, she turned to yell at Luna to leave, but when she did this, she was able to see Luna's aura, which stopped her from speaking. In the time it took her to figure out what she was seeing and for the shock to wear off, Luna had spoken and turned to leave.

Severus turned towards Hermione.

"I guess we need to get dressed so that you can speak with your friend." He said just before he rolled off of her and rose off of the bed.

"Wait! What did she say? Did you see her aura?" Hermione asked, rising up on her elbows to watch Severus rummage through a drawer and don his normal black shirt and a plain blue t-shirt.

"You didn't hear her? She wanted to talk to you about something important before she went to meet the others today. Also, yes, I did see her aura and I think that what we saw was what she wanted to talk to you about. New love is hard to figure out, but old unrequited love is even more difficult to deal with." Severus answered all of her questions before leaving the room. She assumed that he was just going to make something to eat for breakfast.

She moved off of the bed to get dressed in a pink ruffled blouse and black knee-length skirt. She quickly ran a brush through her hair and pulled it back into a messy bun before walking out of the bedroom in order to help her friend with an unknown love interest. Well, she did know, but Luna had never told her about this before. She grabbed the door knob and closed it behind her prepared to give some advice if she could.

A/N: I know that it has been a few months since I updated, but I have been working on school work and I didn't want to fail this hard semester of classes. Thank you for your patience. Here is some yumminess just for you! I will be writing more this summer and I am hoping to finish this story as well, so that I can finish my others finally.

I hope you liked it.

The Questions I leave you with are:

Who is Luna in love with?

How did Hermione get in the position she was in that morning?

Will Severus really change for her in public?

When will Dumbledore tell them about the bond?

What will Dumbledore tell them about the bond?

Please Review!


	13. Unrequited Mystery Love

A/N: I have been working my butt off trying to get this chapter out within a month of my last update, but I have missed the deadline… only by about a week… or so… Plus it is in less time that it took for me to do the last update. I hope you can forgive me. I have had writers block and second guessing this story. I don't want to put something in this story and then lose several readers or get many flames. I am trying to just write this for the enjoyment of the few, but it is taking a lot out of me. I hope you like this chapter.

Warning: this will be a multi- person chapter. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but I hope you figure out what I mean soon.

Chapter 13

Unrequited Mystery Love!

**Hermione**

When Hermione entered their living room, she saw Luna on the love seat that they had used the day before. She was just gazing into the elf made fire, totally oblivious to the fact that someone else was in the room. Hermione walked passed her to get to the kitchen expecting to see Severus there getting breakfast, but the room was empty.

"I guess he left our rooms." Hermione pondered aloud. She went to the cabinet and extracted the Chamomile tea to make it for her guest. It only took her a moment to heat the water and get the cups up onto the tray. She levitated the tray into the living area and set it on the coffee table.

"Tea?" Hermione asked, picking up the tea pot and pouring herself a cup. When Luna nodded, Hermione poured some into the other cup and set the kettle down. She pushed Luna's cup over to sit in front of her and indicated that she use the cream and sugar as she wished. As Luna used the cream, Hermione put three sugars in her tea. They switched dishes and finished making their tea. Hermione settled back into the armchair and waited for Luna to get done putting six sugars into her tea and stir it up before she spoke.

"So what is it you need to talk about?" Hermione began, then taking a sip from her cup.

The room was silent and the atmosphere was calm as Luna turned to look at Hermione.

"I have heard from the Nargles that you have a new gift that might be able to help me with my problem. Your love radar is meant to help others and not just for you. Please help me." Luna said in her airy voice.

"So Dean and Seamus told you that Severus and I have a new gift?" Hermione asked in order to see if she understood Luna correctly, but Luna just shook her head.

"No. The Nargles told me." Luna insisted before taking a sip of her tea.

"Okay, so the Nargles told you that we have a new gift. I don't know how a gift dealing with love and couples can help… Oh!" Hermione said as she finally came to realize what Luna was talking about and she found the reason for her visit. "You need to talk about your love for…"

"Yes." Luna interrupted before Hermione could say the name of her unrequited love interest. "I don't know how to tell him how I feel without him just thinking that I am crazy. I mean, it's not like we hang out a lot or anything, but I know him through you so I thought that maybe you could help." She confessed.

"Well, I guess I could help you, but I don't really know how to do so. He isn't easy to get along with and I have known him for quite a while. We have been in so many fights that I don't know why I am friends with him at the moment or at all."

"Anything you can do to get us together would be brilliant. I know he isn't the most observant of people, but I am sure that a little nudge will get him going in the right direction." Luna said, "Thank you for helping me."

"As said, I can only do so much. I hope things work out for you." Hermione said with a small smile.

They sat there in an awkward silence for several minutes drinking their tea. Then Hermione was surprised into almost dropping her cup when Luna asked,

"You and Severus have sex often? Why has it happened so quickly? Were you in a relationship before his turn? You two seem extremely comfortable with each other in such a short time."

"Bloody Hell, Luna!" Hermione said as she stabilized her cup and placed it on the table in front of her. "Don't do that without warning." She was silent for a moment before she answered the questions posed. "I don't know the answer to your first two questions, but I can tell you that we didn't have any kind of relationship before his change except the student and teacher one. I think the reason why we are so comfortable around each other is we have realized the more we resist this Bond, the more it is going to push us together. And the thing is neither of us likes to be forced to do anything we don't already want to do, so I guess we have both decided to just let things work the way they are going to anyway. I don't know if I made any sense to you or not, but that is just how I see this situation." Hermione finished and then took a long sip of her luke-warm tea. She looked up after she had set her cup down and was surprised to see Luna smiling at her in her normal dazed way.

"I understand what you mean. I would be warned though; you might want to get checked out at the Hospital Wing soon. Don't worry it isn't anything urgent or life threatening. Wait a few more days and you will understand what I am talking about." Luna informed a confused Hermione. She drained the rest of her tea before placing her cup on the tray in the middle of the table and rose out of her seat. "Well, Thank you for saying that you will help me with… my love." She said; still obviously not ready to say the name of her potential partner. Hermione also rose from her chair after placing her empty cup on the tray.

"Let's just hope that I can actually do something for you. I'm glad that you came to me with this. Oh, I forgot to ask. How did you get the password?" Hermione finally remembered to ask. They both walked slowly to the door as Luna answered the question.

"Harry told me, but only after I had told him that it was very important that I know it so that I could talk to you. So don't blame him for giving it to me."

"Alright, just don't give it to anyone else and tell Harry to stop giving out the password. I will get back to you on what we talked about." Hermione replied, opening the portrait to let Luna out.

Luna just nodded and walked… well, actually she skipped… out the door and down the hallway. Hermione shook her head. "I will never understand that girl." She said out loud to herself, before closing the door, thinking to herself that she wouldn't even worry about what Luna had said about the hospital wing because nothing would be accomplished by going.

**Severus**

Severus left the bedroom after getting dressed and wondered what he should do for the next hour to occupy his time while Hermione spoke to her 'Not-all-there' friend. He glanced at the aforementioned girl sitting in front of the fire and noticed that she didn't even seem to realize that she wasn't alone. Shrugging, he walked swiftly to the portrait out of their living room and down the hall in the direction of his old quarters. He knew he couldn't enter his old rooms, but that was just the direction that appealed to him at the moment. No, he wasn't wondering aimlessly through the halls, he had a goal in mind. He just wasn't sure where his mind wanted to go yet. Or maybe it was his feet taking him somewhere. He didn't even want to think about it.

'I don't know how I can keep my word to Hermione when it comes to letting our past relationship go. I have always thought of her as my student and nothing more. I have never thought of a student in the way I am supposed to be trying to do with Hermione. At least I am able to think of her as Hermione and not Miss. Granger. That's progress, right?' He asked himself silently. When he looked up, he realized that his feet had led him to Dumbledore's office entrance. Severus looked at the Gargoyle for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and said the password. The gargoyle jumped aside and the staircase began its journey up. Severus stepped onto one of the higher steps and waited for it to reach the top. Just after the staircase stopped, Severus raised his hand and knocked on the door in front of him.

"Enter" was heard almost immediately from inside the room. Severus slowly opened the door and walked in to find Dumbledore sitting behind his desk with a very large, thick book in front of him.

"Have you found anything out about this bond with miss… Hermione and me yet? We really need to find out what is going on and soon." Severus insisted sitting down in the chair right in front of the headmaster's desk.

"Actually, I believe I have found a name for it, but no specifics as of yet. I found a reference to the rarest bond known and it is called The Enemy Bond. From what I can find the bond is only supposed to come about between enemies who are actually Soul Mates on the event of the enemy's first contact after they are both of suitable age. Unfortunately, I haven't found out anything more specific than that." Dumbledore answered resting his hands on the large book in front of him and looking at Severus for a reaction of any kind. "What is so urgent that needs to be figured out?"

Severus shook his head in frustration. "Nothing that is important at the moment just a few things that might cause problems while we are in classes. We seem to be able to see if others are interested in our… mate, for lack of a better word, and if they aren't interested, who they want and if they are together with that person. It is a very annoying thing to deal with. I don't know what will happen if we do find someone who is interested in the other." He finished with a sigh.

"That is an interesting new power. Thank you for letting me know about this new development. I will have the teachers keep their eyes out for problems. Is there anything else that I don't know about this bond?" Dumbledore asked with his normal twinkling eye.

"Yes there is, but I don't know if Hermione wants anyone else to know so I won't be telling you at this time." Severus said rising out of the chair intent on leaving before the nosy old man could ask any more of his nosy questions. "Thank you for your time. I will be on my way now." He said before he walked out the door, closing it behind him.

A/N: SORRY! I wasn't planning to end it here, but I just think that this is the perfect place to stop for now. Before I post this chapter, I will be starting the next chapter. I would like to reach 100 reviews before I post the next chapter, but we shall see if that happens. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Questions to leave you with:

What is the Enemy Bond?

What was Luna talking about with Hermione?

Why does Luna like that Hermione is helping her with?

When will Dumbledore find more information on this Enemy Bond?

Please Review!


	14. Matchmaking Time!

A/N: Beginning this chapter right after exiting 13. I am a little off in the number of reviews that I wanted, but I am not complaining at all!

Warning: A little bit of Yaoi ahead!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 14

Matchmaking Time!

Severus slowly walked back to his rooms with Hermione not really thinking about anything. Reaching the portrait, he said, "True Love" and watched as it swung open. Walking in, he noticed that Hermione was on the couch laying there reading one of her new books from yesterday. He walked into the kitchen and made them both a breakfast of French toast and scrambled eggs. He put a portion of each food on each plate and put them both on a tray that he had charmed to follow him as he walked into the living room to join Hermione. He allowed the tray to settle on the table in front of him as he sat in the love seat. Hermione looked up from her book when she realized that she wasn't alone anymore.

"May I ask where you have been? Or is that too nosy?" She asked sitting up and placing her book on the table next to the tray laden with food.

"Where did the attitude come from? You have been a Know-It-All, but never a normal hormonal teenager before." Severus replied, looking at her in surprise. Hermione paused before answering.

"I'm sorry. You're right, that was rude. I just wanted to know where you had gone and I also know that you don't like it when people get into your business. So I guess I was just trying to ask you if it was okay if I asked questions like that of you on occasion." Hermione amended, picking up the plate that he placed in front of her. Severus picked up his own plate and ate a bite of his toast before he answered her.

"That is alright and if you need to ask a question just ask it and don't worry about what I am going to say. If I say something rude, I also expect you to tell me that I was. About where I went, I went to Dumbledore's office to see if he had found anything out about our… Bond." He said, after swallowing his food with a pause.

Hermione had been eating her toast when he began speaking and she had to finish chewing before she could ask him, "What has he found out?"

Severus shook his head, "Only that it is called the Enemy Bond. That makes this sound so much better." Sarcasm really seemed to suit him as he said this. Hermione shook her head as well before they were both silent. They continued to eat their breakfast, each just thinking that this new bond was probably going to kill them before they even knew anything about it. After they were both done eating, Hermione took the plates to the sink and cleaned them the muggle way, which for some reason soothed her. It made her think of her family and how much she missed them. Remembering them made her think about her family here at Hogwarts and she realized that she had something that she could do to bide her time so that she wouldn't think about the bond so much. She quickly finished putting away the dishes and walked out to the living room. Seeing that Severus was in his earlier spot reading the same potions book as yesterday, she went into their bedroom and searched for something in her trunk. When she found it, she left the room and headed for the door. Severus glanced up and she could tell that he wanted to know where she was going so she told him.

"I'm going to hang out with my friends for a little while and help Luna with her… problem." Hermione said, holding up something that she had gotten during the summer. It was a non-descript orb made of what looked like crystal, but what was actually Kunzite. Hermione knew that the properties of this stone was romance, Love, Power, Healing, and Good Luck, but what she was told about the orb itself was that it would show whoever looked into it the one person that loved them the most in the world at that moment. Hermione just figured that she could have her friends each look into it for laughs if that is what it would take to make Luna happier. Maybe it would make him think about her in that way instead of as the annoying Loony Luna. Hermione was just thankful that it was Saturday and that they didn't have any classes to worry about. She waved at Severus before closing the door and began walking towards the Gryffindor common room. When she finally arrived, she said the password to the guardian of the Gryffindor Tower and the portrait swung open after the occupant of it welcomed Hermione back. Walking into the common room, Hermione was surprised to find that Draco was also in attendance. 'That makes this even easier' was her thought as she approached the couches in front of the fireplace, which is where Ginny, Harry, Neville, Ron, and Draco were currently sitting and talking. Ginny and Neville were cuddled together and holding hands while they spoke of the others. Ron, Harry, and Draco were sitting in that order next the Ginny. Neville was the first to see her walking toward them and he waved to her in welcome. The others looked in the direction that Neville was looking and all except Draco broke out in greetings. When Hermione looked at Draco, he nodded his welcome.

"Morning, guys! How are you doing? And what are you doing here, Malfoy?" Hermione asked finding a spot on the arm chair next to the full couch to sit down. She held the orb in her lap hoping that no one would notice it just yet.

"We should be asking you how you are." Ginny said with a smirk. "Anything good happen yet?" Ron and Harry made gagging noises and turned away, obviously not wanting to know the answer to that question.

"I am doing just fine and Ginny that is really none of your business." Hermione replied with a small smirk at her to let her know that she would tell her something later in private. She then turned to Draco to hear his answer to her question.

"I was actually asked to hang out with this crazy group out of nowhere the day that we all learned of your new… situation. I don't know why, but I accepted and I have been coming here ever since. Now it's your turn to answer a question. What's that thing in your hand?" Draco finally spoke, answering the question and then indicated the orb with a wave of his hand. 'He is so gay' Hermione thought without realizing why.

"Oh, this is actually one reason that I came down here. I wanted to hang out with you guys and I figured we could have a little fun with something that I got this summer." Hermione said holding up the orb for the others to see.

"What is it for?" Neville asked looking at it with his head tilted to one side.

"This orb is supposed to show you the person who loves you the most at this very moment. All you have to do is hold it in your hand and think of any kind of love or kindness and it will show you this person." Hermione explained holding the object out for someone to take.

"Alright, I want to go first. I know who it will show me, but it is always good to reconfirm my ideas." Neville said reaching for the orb. He brought it close to his face and closed his eyes for just a second before looking into the orb and smiling. "Yep, just what I thought" he said looking up at Ginny and then at the rest of the group. He help it out to Ginny so that she could see if he was the one who loved her the most at that moment and she gladly confirmed it after a few seconds with a smile. Ginny then handed it to Ron, who was sitting right next to her. Ron glanced at his friends really quickly and then closed his eyes. It took him a little longer to look into the orb, but he eventually did. After a few seconds of watching the orb his eyes widened and he quickly passed it over to Harry. Before Harry could look into the orb, Hermione had to say something.

"Who did you see Ron?" She asked hoping he would willingly tell them, but she knew he wouldn't.

"Oh, just this girl I know that goes here. I actually saw her in the mirror the other day in Divinations. I don't think that she likes me though, so I won't be telling her about me… Wait… you said that thing tells you what again?" Ron finally seemed to understand the implications of seeing his, hopefully soon, girlfriend in the orb. Hermione knew he didn't really want her to answer his question, but she did anyway.

"The one person who loves you the most in that moment in time"

Ron's jaw dropped and he slowly blinked at Hermione as if she had just said something that he hadn't known and then had grown three heads. She waited for him to blink or for someone to say something that would snap him out of the trance that he had lapsed into and she wasn't disappointed.

"What's this girl's name? What house is she in?" Ginny prodded, hoping for an answer.

"Huh?" Ron said and looked at his sister before answering with a blush traveling up his cheeks and to the tip of his ears, "Well, she is in Ravenclaw, but I didn't ever think that she could like me in the least with the way I have treated her all these years. Calling her names and helping others steal her stuff." Ron hung his head.

"Well, luckily for you Luna seems to truly care for you and she wants to get to know you better." Hermione told him to make him feel better, but his head snapped up when he heard the name and all of their friends and Draco's reactions. Ginny kind of squealed, Harry gasped, Draco rolled his eyes at the drama, and Neville nodded just like he had two days prior at the meeting about the bond.

"That's great that Luna finally gets the chance to be with the person she has wanted for quite a while. Please give her a chance." Neville answered Hermione's questioning gaze quickly.

"I am so excited for you two. Please don't screw this up, Ron. You two could be so happy together." Ginny said to her brother.

"I never thought I would see the day when Ron started dating Luna Lovegood." Harry said looking dazed.

"I'm not dating her yet, guys. Don't rush things. First, I have to get up the nerve to talk to her before we can start dating." Ron didn't look too thrilled about having to ask Luna out even though he now knew he wouldn't be turned down.

"Don't worry about that, Ron. Harry, it's your turn with the orb and you have to tell us who you see." Hermione said being her normal bossy self. Harry glared at her for a moment and then closed his eyes. After a good amount of time, he opened his eyes and smiled. He stared at the orb in obvious awe, before looking up at the roaring fire and handing the orb to Draco without looking at him.

"Well? Who did you see?" Hermione interrupted Draco's turn before he could close his eyes. Harry didn't really answer; he just gave Hermione the sign for 'one minute' and nodded to Draco to get him to look into the orb. Draco also only took a few seconds to get the orb to show the mystery person, but when it did, he actually started to laugh. Hermione look at him in wonder. She had never seen him smile let alone laugh. It took him a few seconds to settle down, but when he did, he leaned over to hand Hermione the orb. He leaned back and looked at the others before leaning toward Harry and giving him a firm kiss on the lips. Harry smirked under his lips and quickly responded. Hermione hadn't seen that coming and apparently neither had any of the others. They all gaped at the snogging couple several moments before the two pulled apart and smiled two innocent smiles.

"Okay, what the hell was that about?" Hermione asked shaking her head.

The two glanced at each other and Draco nodded before Harry turned to answer Hermione's question. "Well, we have actually been dating for about a year now, secretly. I don't really know how it started, but however it did, I am so happy it occurred. And actually, in class the other day I lied about what or who I saw in the mirror. I actually saw Draco next to me and we were extremely happy about something." Harry looked at his friends questioningly, "Do you hate me now?" He asked. Hermione saw Neville and Ginny look at each other and smile.

"Oh, Harry, no. I don't hate you. This has just been a bit of a surprising outcome. I should have been able to see this coming with my new matchmaking power, but I guess I wasn't even paying attention. If you are happy with Malfoy, then I say that's great." Hermione said with a small smile. She looked at Ginny and Neville for an explanation as to their reaction to this news and Ginny happily answered.

"We actually suspected that something was up with you two about 7 months ago. Harry, you were acting very strange and disappearing frequently. I didn't connect you two in this strange behavior until Neville mentioned that Malfoy seemed a lot happier lately." Ginny said, indicating Malfoy.

"So why did you seem surprised a few minutes ago when they kissed?" Hermione wanted to know.

Ginny shook her head, "I wasn't surprised. That kiss was just Hot!" She finished with a nod and a smile. Harry and Draco looked at each other and laughed. This was apparently the point where Ron came out of his too-much-at-once stupor.

"WHAT THE HELL? Okay wait. You two are now dating? Harry, I didn't even know you were gay. When did that happen? Why didn't you ever tell me that?" Ron blazed at them.

"Well, I really didn't know how you would react to my being gay and I didn't tell anyone about me and Draco dating because I just wanted to keep it to myself for a while." Harry answered with a shrug.

This is when Hermione figured it would be good to leave so that they could figure things out on their own. But before she went she said, "Sorry I have to go, but I just wanted to let you know, Harry, that I am very happy for you. Ron, don't forget about Luna and it is lunch time so you might want to go down to the great hall and eat. I am eating in my rooms today. I will see you guys later, definitely on Monday if not tomorrow." She waved at her waving friends and she walked out the door to the sounds of her friends arguing.

A/N: 105 reviews! Wow! Thank you for reading my story! I hope the Harry/Draco part didn't run anyone off.

One person got who Luna liked right in their review! Good Job, _** 11**_!

Also I wanted to say I wouldn't have been able to get this chapter out this early if it weren't for _**Nyx Lien**_ poking me into it. Thank you for the shove!

Thanks to all of my reviewers! I hope you keep reading and reviewing!

Questions I leave you with:

What was Luna talking about?

Why hasn't Dumbledore found anything on the bond?

Will Ron ask Luna out any time soon?

Will Hermione look into the orb herself?


	15. Proof!

A/N: I got several great reviews and I am happy to know you guys like the story so far.

Here's the next chapter. I will be doing a time jump pretty soon so get ready for it.

Also, I received a review that wasn't so good and I just wanted to respond to them really quickly. Visitor: I didn't plan originally to make this story slash or yaoi of any kind, but it kind of turned that way. I have now put a warning in the summary so that I can lure more yaoi fans to read this. Besides that, I did in fact warn the readers that there was Yaoi or Slash in that chapter. I am sorry if you don't like that stuff, but if you skip it you won't be confused later on. Hope that helps you understand more!

I wanted to get this chapter out before the end of 2014.

My new years resolution for 2015 is to get more chapters out quicker and to finish this story before 2016.

Please Enjoy!

**Chapter 15**

Hermione walked down the hall to her room with the orb in hand, thinking about all that had just happened and how she believed everything would turn out in the end. She eventually made it to the portrait and said the password. Entering the room, she headed toward her shared bedroom to place the orb back in its case for later use. But before she could make it to the door, her foot caught on something and she fell forwards toward the floor. In a defensive move, she dropped the orb and put her hands out in front of her. She vaguely heard the orb shatter just before she landed in the mess it had made and a sharp pain shot through her hands and up her arms. She cried out in pain and rolled out of the pool of glass onto a clean area and cradled her hands to her chest. She felt a two hands slide under her legs and back and lift her up. She vaguely realized that Severus was carrying her somewhere but she was in so much pain that she didn't know where he was taking her. She could only assume that he was taking her up to the hospital wing so that she could be healed. She tried to stay conscious, but the pain was so bad that she just didn't want to feel it any more. Not even a minute later, she gave up the fight and everything went black.

Severus was still reading his book, when Hermione came back. She seemed to be deep in thought about something, when he looked up at her from his book. She wasn't paying any attention to anything around her so she didn't see the part of the rug that had come up at the corner from them walking on it. He opened his mouth to warn her, but he was too late and he watched as she fell forward. He threw his book down on the couch when he realized that the orb she had been carrying had shattered and that she had landed in the glass and a puddle of unknown liquid. He hurried over to her as she rolled away from the glass and he saw that she was bleeding badly, so he knelt down and lifted her up intending to take her to the couch at first. Then he remembered that the orb was supposed to have a special ability, so he changed directions and headed out the door toward the hospital wing. He felt Hermione fall limp and knew she had passed out from the pain in her hands. After several minutes, he finally made it to the hospital and walked through the double doors. He didn't see Madam Pomfrey anywhere nearby, so he placed Hermione on a bed not far from the door. He made sure Hermione's damaged hands were resting on top of her before he ran off to get the nurse from her office. He vaguely realized that his hands also hurt, but when he looked down at them they seemed just fine so he just shrugged and continued on the way to the office.

It only took him a minute to fetch the nurse, but when he got back to the bed with Hermione on it, Hermione was awake and sitting up. Or so he thought. He stopped on the right of the bed and reached out to push her back to make her lie down, but she wouldn't move.

"Hermione, you need to lie down so that Madam Pomfrey can care for your hands." He said to get her to move, but she just continued to stare at the wall opposite them as if she were in a trance. Looking closely, he realized that she was indeed in a trance like state and her eyes were void. She was breathing as if she was only sleeping, so he didn't believe that she was in any danger.

Madam Pomfrey pushed him out of the way so that she could see what was happening to her patient. She waved her wand and spoke some spells Severus wasn't familiar with. Within a minute, Hermione began to glow a blood red color.

"What does that mean?" Severus asked, turning to look at the nurse.

"It means that a potion is newly present in her blood stream and it is doing something inside of her to her magic. I will do some more tests, but first I have a question that I am hoping is no." Pomfrey waited for him to nod for her to continue. "Is there any possibility that she is pregnant?" She asked this with a mostly straight face, her compressing lips the only sign that she didn't like asking this question.

Severus started to shake his head, but he had to stop and explain something. "Well, I don't believe so. We have never done anything consciously, but this morning we woke up in a… different place than we fell asleep in. A very intimate position, so there might be a possibility."

Madam Pomfrey nodded and waved her wand at Hermione's abdomen, speaking a pregnancy spell that Severus was familiar with. The only thing that he wasn't familiar with was the bubble's color that appeared almost immediately. The Matron gasped and dropped her wand to the floor in what he thought was shock.

"What is going on?" Severus asked, starting to get annoyed at having to ask so many questions and not understanding something.

"Well, I would say that I am unable to tell you whether she is or isn't pregnant." She said stooping to pick up her wand, "But the thing is that she could be pregnant. The only problem is that there seems to be something, a kind of barrier, keeping me from knowing for sure." She glanced back at Severus for a moment just in time to levitate a chair under him before he fell to the floor in shock.

Severus sat there while the nurse took most tests on Hermione, thinking about the possibilities of this news. Finally, he spoke up.

"We can't tell Hermione about this possibility. Not yet." Pomfrey turned to look at him with an indignant look on the face. "She won't believe it. Plus, adding this to everything else that she is dealing with as it is might just make her crazy with not knowing and we don't want that. I will take care of her until she realizes what is happening to her body, whether it is , and then we will both tell her after you are able to positively test and confirm the suspicion or not. I will even take the blame for keeping the possibility from her." He explained with a wave of his hand as if to brush any concerns she had aside.

It only took the nurse a moment to nod and then she turned toward the sitting witch in the bed.

"I have run all of the tests that I am able to in her current condition and I believe that the potion in her blood stream will be absorbed soon. It won't do her or her potential baby any harm that I can tell. After she wakes up, we will assess her to see if it has affected her in any other way." She stated, walking away to her office after placing a spell on Hermione that would inform her of any change.

Severus sat there just wondering how much more his life could be changed by the girl in the hospital bed. He was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice when Hermione slowly lowered back into a flat position. He only came out of his thoughts when he felt something touch his hand which had been tightly gripping the chair arm. He raised his head to see Hermione laying propped up on her elbows.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked with obvious concern. Severus smiled and then frowned before answering her.

"That should be my question. You were the one who fell and hurt yourself. I am just fine. How are you feeling? Is there any pain or something of that sort that doesn't feel right to you?" Severus asked. He watched Hermione as she thought and assessed herself before she answered.

"Not much pain, but I do kind of feel a little odd. Actually, I don't remember all of what happened to land me in the hospital wing in the first place. I know that I was coming back from Gryffindor tower after having been there for about an hour or so. I walked through the door to our rooms and then… nothing. I don't remember anything past that." Hermione stated and slumped back into the pillows obviously very frustrated with herself.

"You tripped on the rug in the common area of our rooms and fell. I am sorry to say that your globe broke and you landed in the glass and liquid that spilled out. Poppy tested you for any effects and she seems to think that it wouldn't affect you in any bad ways. She should be in here soon to see if there were any effects besides the bad ones that she can find." Severus said only seconds before the nurse came bustling into the room and right up to Hermione.

"How do you feel, dear?" She asked while she began casting more diagnostics spells. She obviously still couldn't find anything out with these spells, so she waited for Hermione to answer before she asked her next question.

"I feel a little odd but I can't quite pin-point anything specific about why or where the odd feeling is." Hermione finally answered, shifting around on the bed.

"That is quite alright. I cannot find anything wrong with you at the moment, but if anything happens that isn't normal I want you to come here immediately." She turned to Severus before continuing. "And if you notice her doing anything unusual, get her up here as soon as you are able to." She finished before she quickly dismissed Hermione and hustled away.

Hermione quickly shifted to get up out of the bed, but Severus was there ready to pick her up and carry her back to their room.

"I can walk just fine. I don't need you to baby me just because I had a little accident." She said attempting to stand up without his help, but he won't let her get anywhere without his help. He wouldn't take no for an answer.

As she was carried back to their room, she thought about how much he had changed in only a few days. She had a feeling about something for just a moment and she couldn't keep from answering this feeling.

"I didn't expect to say this so soon after I was told that we were soul mates, but I think that I could be falling in love with you." Hermione said. Severus suddenly stopped walking toward their room and he looked down at Hermione with very obvious shock on his face. While he was distracted, Hermione reached up and pulled his head down to hers and she kissed him for a few moments without him responding to her. She was just about to pull back from the kiss when he began to respond very enthusiastically. His tongue brushed her bottom lip as if asking for permission to enter. She immediately responded by opening her mouth to allow him access. They didn't move for a few minutes except their mouths and what they didn't realize was the picture that was taken from only a few feet in front of them.

In another part of the castle, a well-known old man leaned over a large book and gasped in realization.

"Well, this isn't good!" He said, slouching back into his chair and shaking his head.

Questions I leave you with:

Who took the picture?

What are they planning to do with it?

When will Dumbledore tell Hermione and Severus what he found?

What did the potion do to Hermione?


	16. Free Talk

A/N: I told you that it wouldn't take me that long to update, but things are always against me getting each chapter out. I hope you enjoy this chapter and review.

I have to apologize to the rest of my readers, but minimoon1999, my cousin, is refusing to review my story, so I have told her that I won't be updating again until she has reviewed it. Maybe you could all message her constantly in order to make her review immediately.

Thank you all for your support of the story and your patience.

Now on to the next chapter!

Chapter 16

They stood there for a moment, too engrossed in each other to notice anything around them. Hermione finally pulled away when she felt like she had to have air. Severus looked down at her and then glanced around suspiciously, always one to be alert in any situation. After he had assessed their surroundings and found no one else there, he began walking back to their shared common room. Hermione watched Severus as he carried her down the hall. She wasn't sure how he had reacted to what she had told him and the kiss hadn't seemed to help anything. They were almost to their common room when he spoke.

"You know that wasn't a very nice way to tell me how you feel. I would appreciate it if next time, you will wait until we are in the privacy of our rooms. I have told you that I will change how I act around you, but that is only in private. When you said that in the hallway and reacted the way you did, anything could have happened, anyone could is seen." They finally reached their shared dorm and Severus paused only long enough to say the password to their rooms, before he walked through their living room and straight into their bedroom. He gently placed her onto their bed before walking over to their wardrobe and, reaching in, pulled out a nightgown for Hermione and a pair of night pants for himself.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you with my confession, but I had to tell you how I felt as soon as I was able to. For some reason in the hall way I just couldn't stop myself from feeling the way I did and saying it. I normally have more sense than that, but today I just couldn't stop." Hermione finally admitted, watching him walk back over to her to hand her the nightgown. He waited till she took it before he walked to the bathroom and partially closed the door.

"I wish I knew what to tell you in order to make you feel better, but I am just not that kind of person. I have never been a person who showed or took emotions well, especially from others. I really don't know how to respond to your confession in the hall, but I suspect the feelings you have now are connected to the potion in the crystal that you fell on a few hours ago. Maybe I am incorrect and you have felt this way since the beginning of this ordeal, but for some reason I don't believe that. You don't seem the type to have a crush on a professor, except for the Lockhart incident." Severus stated as soon as he was behind the closed door.

Hermione looked down at her nightgown and contemplated it for a moment, before she finally undressed and slipped into it. Just as she was pulling it down over her legs, Severus opened the bathroom door fully and walked back into their bedroom. As she had expected and as he had done every night since they were first bonded, he was only wearing a pair of black night pants with no shirt on. Hermione smiled, 'Ginny would be drooling at the sight of this.' She thought before she realized that Severus was looking at her strangely. She belatedly realized that smiling right after he walks out of the bathroom half naked probably hadn't been what he expected her to do, so she said the first thing she thought of to cover up her mistake.

"Maybe you're right. We really don't know what is going to come from this new development. By the way, did Madam Pomfrey tell you anything while I was unconscious?" Hermione said, looking around for something to occupy her hands. When she didn't find anything, she quickly walked around the bed and climbed in under the covers. This didn't really help her any as Severus climbed into bed right next her.

"I'm glad that you are agreeing with me, because Madam. Pomfrey really couldn't tell what effects the new potion will introduce into your blood system." Severus said, before looking away and answering her other question. "Madam. Pomfrey mostly just asked me a lot of questions about what happened and what has been going on in these quarters since we first bonded. Good night." He finished before turning over and going silent.

Hermione could tell he wasn't being completely truthful with her, but she didn't think that what he was keeping from her was anything important, just something embarrassing to him. She didn't even consider that embarrassment was one of their intimacy triggers. She was so tired that her brain wasn't working the way it usually does, so she turned over on her side of the bed and fell asleep.

**Severus's POV**

Unlike Hermione, Severus couldn't seem to fall asleep tonight. He kept thinking about what Madam. Pomfrey had told him and he couldn't think beyond her uncertainty. There was a very real possibility that… But he didn't know how he would cope if… And if Hermione wasn't happy about it… How would Hermione feel if she was told that she could be pregnant and then they found out that she wasn't? Did she want children? Would she be sad that she wasn't pregnant?

But at the same time if they found out that Hermione really was pregnant, then how would everyone else react? How would Hermione react to having a child at 17? Would she be surprised? Would she panic? Would she surprise him and actually be happy about the child? Maybe she would completely fall apart and he wouldn't know how to comfort her. Could he ask her friends to help him? Would her friends stay beside her and help her?

All of the emotions he was feeling at that moment exhausted him so much that he fell asleep without realizing it.

The next morning was much the same as the last two, with Hermione lying on top of Severus with him inside of her. She wasn't as embarrassed this time, as she was beginning to enjoy waking up this way. The only problem this morning was that something round was hovering over their prone bodies surrounded with a pink mist. Hermione quickly sat up and gasped at the orb. Her movement quickly woke Severus and his focus immediately went to Hermione, obviously wondering what made her jolt awake so fast. He followed her gaze to the orb and he squinted his eyes at it in suspicion.

"What the hell?" Severus said before propping himself up on his elbows in order to get a better look at the orb. Before he could get too close to the orb or get too much of a look at it, it disappeared as if it hadn't been there in the first place.

They stayed as they were for a moment before Severus lowered himself onto his back and Hermione looked down at him again. They looked at each other in curiosity neither really knowing what to say after that. Severus spoke first.

"I can only assume that you don't have a clue as to what that was, either?" Hermione immediately shook her head and looked down at her hands which were splayed across to his chest.

"How do we always get into this predicament? What the heck is causing this and why?" Hermione said, just before they heard a tapping sound at their window. They both looked up to see Dumbledore's Phoenix hovering outside the window with a letter clutched in its claws.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk in his office with a large book that he had been reading in front of him as he continued to find out more about the enemy bond. He had actually only heard of this bond once before, but no one knew the results of the bond so he couldn't tell Hermione or Severus what they could expect to happen. Fortunately he had remembered that one of his older books that had long lost its title held records of rare bonds and what to expect if one was ever affected. He had already sent Faux with a message for the pair to meet him in his office in an hour's time, and he only planned to tell the bonded pair a few basic things on the bond that he had learned. As he looked at the book again he saw a paragraph that he hadn't seen before.

The enemy bond is a rare thing as when the female of the pair becomes pregnant a glowing pink orb will appear above the couple between one and 10 days after conception. With this type of bond this usually happens within the first seven days of the event. Nobody knows why the orb is always pink, as the only two reported enemy bonds has resulted in one boy child and one girl child. We can only assume that it is pink because the mother is the one who is carrying the child.

He shook his head as he finished reading this new information. 'Those two are not going to like this' he thought just before he heard the knock at the door that he was expecting.

"Enter!" he called, closing the book and placing his hands flat on the cover.

Severus pushed open the door and allowed Hermione to walk in before him. As he slowly closed the door, Hermione continued forward and sat in the chair that she had occupied last time she was in this office. Severus joined her only a moment later and as soon as he sat down he demanded, "What did you find out about this bond? I didn't expect you to have something already."

"I only have something because I was reminded about something useful at the right moment. I wouldn't even tell you my suspicion now except that this could change your life forever or should I say that it already has. This bond is supposed to be extremely rare so it is unusual to have seen it twice in one century. According to my source," at this Dumbledore patted the book gently, "the last couple to experience this bond was only in 1826. Basically this bond brings together two people, who are in essence enemies, and bonds them for a purpose that is still unknown because of its rarity. As I already told you," He said looking at Severus, "It is called the Enemy Bond, but what I didn't tell you is that this bond is supposed to require the couple to…" Dumbledore began to tell them about the possibility of a pregnancy, but they were interrupted by Professor McGonagall with several students, who were all in a lot of trouble from what Severus could see from the expression on the older professor's face.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but this is important." The professor stated in a tone that warranted no argument. Dumbledore looked conflicted as if he really wanted to finish speaking to the new bond mates and also deal with the trouble that the students caused. Severus took the decision from him and stood up.

"We will be on our way then. Thank you for your time, Albus." He nodded his head and, grabbing Hermione's hand, walked over to the door and opened it for his mate to walk through before he too went through it and closed the door behind him.

Questions I leave you with:

Why can't the bond mates catch a break and find out about the pink orb?

Is Hermione really pregnant?

How will she respond if she is?

What did the potion inside the orb do to Hermione?

Why is the orb always pink?

I hope you liked this Chapter!

Please Review!


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